Continuations: The Batman: Season 6
by Triscribe
Summary: My episodes for a continued Season Six of The Batman, exploring ideas of other superheroes, teen partners, and traditional villains. Get ready for shenanigans involving magic, time travel, and and all the other pieces of craziness that go into being a superhero in a DC universe. Currently, Episode 9: Convention, featuring a whole host of new, incognito faces to geek out over.
1. Episode 1: A Speedy Shadow, Part 1

"... Have to keep all your senses open; anything can give away a thug about to pull a sneak attack." Batman said in his stern tone. Nodding eagerly, Batgirl promised herself she'd start spending more afternoon workouts with a blindfold on.

"That all the notes for tonight, teach?" She asked. Silently, Batman nodded, then turned back towards the massive computer screen covered with recent police reports. As she slipped off her cowl, Barbara happened to glance over a couple of them, and frowned.

"Hey... Those are from Star City, not Gotham. What gives?"

"Something's been bothering Green Arrow at the last couple League meetings. I thought I'd see if I could figure out what it might be." He pulled up one document in particular, a small article with a fuzzy picture of a figure leaping over rooftops.

"_Star's New Status as a Haven for Archers_?" Barbara quirked an eyebrow at him, and Bruce pulled off his own cowl before sighing.

"This was taken three weeks ago while Arrow was very publicly bringing down Vertigo on the other side of town. Apparently, he's got a fan, who's been shooting down small time crooks and muggers while bigger game is occupying Ollie's attention."

"Aw, now doesn't that sound familiar." Still talking from the changing area she had moved to, Barbara asked the exact question that had been bothering Bruce for several days. "Think G.A. might take him on as a partner?"

"Would be nice to know who he is, first." The Dark Knight muttered.

"I heard that. And as you oh-so-delicately dropped to Dick when I first came here, you knew who I was for a lot longer than I suspected who you were." She emerged in civilian clothes once again. "Speaking of Mister pixie, I thought I might step upstairs before I left, see if he needs any help with his science homework."

Bruce rubbed a palm over his face. "Did he tell you he blew up the lab table yesterday?"

"Again? I gotta hand it to the kid, he's almost as destructive in his civilian ID as Robin." Chuckling, the college student entered the elevator leading from the Batcave to Wayne Manor above.

Only a few minutes after she had left and Bruce returned to scanning and cross referencing the news reports, he received an incoming transmission.

"Speak of the devil," He muttered, answering it.

"Hey, Bruce!"

"Oliver. What do you need?"

"Well, ah- are you alone at the moment?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Ye-es." He replied, drawing out the word.

"Well, I wanted to ask you something. Batgirl got started on her own, right? How did you take it?" Realizing instantly where this was coming from, Bruce was careful to arrange his thoughts before answering.

"At first, I was very discouraging of her behavior, tried to tell her to go home, and generally made it a point to avoid contact with her."

"... And after that?" Ollie sounded anxious over the line.

"She stuck around, learning and proving herself to me."

"And that was enough for you to accept her as a partner?"

"The final push came when she was able to bring down a villain's airship by herself, since I was... preoccupied."

He could practically hear Ollie mulling this over. Bruce waited a minute before speaking again.

"This is about the vigilante who's been copying you, isn't it?"

A very deep sigh made itself heard from the man on the other end of the transmission. "I managed to spot the guy last night, and tailed him across the city. He ducked into a run down apartment building in a pretty bad area, and I got close enough to catch a glimpse of him through the window. Bruce, he... He's just a kid."

The comparative size of the figure in the handful of photos had already led Batman to suspect that, but hearing the worry in Ollie's voice was disconcerting.

"Maybe not as small as Robin, but definitely younger than Batgirl. And, he's gotten a costume, a bow, even made his own trick arrows! A teenager in the slums, for crying out loud!"

"Impressive."

"Yeah... Yeah, I thought so. And he's been doing a decent job, too. Crooks that would have had the luck to get by me scot-free can't make it past him. But, Bruce, I'm afraid he might try bigger stuff, get in over his head - I've got enough to deal with in this city without worrying that a kid copying me is going to get himself killed."

"So, you called me, who's had both a teen and a kid make their own uniforms and force their way into being my partners, for advice on how to get this boy to stop." If it weren't so serious, Bruce might have chuckled at the irony.

"Um, yes?"

"Hmph. Do you at least have a name for this kid?" The silence gave Bruce the fun image of Ollie staring blankly ahead with his mouth hanging open in dismay.

"... No, but I've got the address of the apartment he went into."

"Send it to me, I'll see what I can find out about him."

"Thanks, Bruce-"

"Don't thank me yet. As soon as we know something about him, I'm making you at least talk to the kid."

"-Excuse me?"

"Ollie, I _will_ come to Star City if necessary. Forcing this boy out will mean approaching him. More than that, if you might consider actually working with him."

And on that note, Bruce had the satisfaction of hanging up on a startled Oliver.


	2. Episode 1: A Speedy Shadow, Part 2

"Are we going out on patrol after dinner or do you want to go back to sitting in front of the computer for a few hours first?" Dick asked as he slid into the kitchen in sock feet. Bruce chuckled while Alfred raised a solitary eyebrow at the boy's energy.

"We'll be in the Cave until Barbara arrives; then the three of us will head out together."

"Sweet! Is it just me, or have you been alternating between us this last week or two?"

"Considering you both seem to keep swapping each night with who's swamped with homework, yes." Rolling his eyes, the eleven-year-old hopped up onto the counter beside where Bruce was pouring over an old looking document.

"I thought you were looking through _recent _Star City stuff for this copycat archer dude. That thing has to be at least a few years old."

"Four." Bruce said absently. "It's a listing of leases on the apartments in the building that Ollie saw his fan go into. There hasn't been a current one in quite a while; since the entire structure is in deteriorating condition I'm guessing the owner doesn't care about or want to admit to people still living in it."

"That stinks." A nod of agreement was given, before Alfred announced that their dinner was served, and both of them moved to the dining room - Dick doing a cartwheel along the way as Bruce smiled and tucked the document into his pants pocket.

Afterwards, the two descended to the Batcave and changed into Batman and Robin. The boy started doing flips and other acrobatics as his mentor sat at the computer again. They were there for about fifteen minutes before the elevator doors opened again, and Barbara stepped out.

"Have you guys seen the news?" She asked excitedly, cutting off greetings from the pair.

"What news?" Robin popped up from a somersault to stand beside her, curious.

"From Star! Quick, boss bat, turn it on!" Batman was already bringing up the feed. A news caster was crouched behind a fallen telephone pole, his back to a building where flashes and flurries of movement could be made out on the roof.

"-cannot tell at this time if the archers are involved in a three-way battle, or if Green Arrow and the Shadow Archer are working together to bring down Merlyn-"

Batman's eyes narrowed at the trio of names. Merlyn he'd heard of: Ollie had complained bitterly about the man a few times, as their bowmanship was near parallel but the assassin usually came out ahead in their battles due to his greater hand-to-hand combat prowess. The Shadow Archer was also the name the media had assigned to Arrow's fan, still unable to get a decent picture or report about him.

"If this isn't a perfect catalyst to get them to consider a partnership, I don't know what is." Barbara said smugly even as she hurried to the changing area.

"Although, knowing G.A., he might just say hi and wave before taking off." Robin muttered. He shot his mentor a sly look. "Maybe we should fly over the Star to keep an eye on them?"

Batman knew the kid just wanted an excuse to get out of Gotham for a little while. The city had been quiet lately, and Robin was itching for something new to get his mind off of his boredom. When Batgirl returned, she wholeheartedly agreed, and both of them turned the pleading stares towards the man sitting at the computer console. He deliberately avoided the pair of begging gazes, but managed to recall his threat the Ollie about going to Star City and forcing the two crimefighters to talk.

After a moment, Batman sighed. And nodded.

"YES!" Chorusing their enthusiasm, his partners took off for the lower level hanger where the Batwing sat. He followed a bit more slowly, leaving a message for Alfred to inform him of where they'd be going. When Batman did drop down to the hanger floor, the plane's engines had already been started up, and Batgirl and Robin were complaining at him for moving so slowly. Hiding a smirk, he leaped up and into the pilot's seat, sealed the hatch, and activated the controls.

A few exhilarating moments later, and the Batwing was airborne and zooming out above Gotham. The trio did a quick sweep of the city, just in case there was anything obviously out of place or in process of being blown up, but all seemed quiet. Once their circuit was complete, Batman turned in the direction of Star and took them to a cruising altitude above the clouds.

"Hey, quick question," Robin spoke up after a few minutes. "Are we going to call ahead and warn Arrow we're coming?" For his answer, Batman merely had to glance back over his shoulder and widen one eye. Smirking and leaning back in his seat, the boy began to envision the startled look the Emerald archer would have when they dropped in on him.

Something rather similar to that dreamed-of expression crossed his own features, though, when they picked up an incoming transmission from said archer, on the Justice League emergency wavelength.

"That can't be good," Batgirl muttered, exchanging a glance with him as Batman answered the call.

"Arrow? What's-"

"I hope you weren't kidding about coming for a visit, Bats." A hacking cough ended the sentence, emphasizing how rough Green Arrow's voice sounded. "'Cause I could really use a hand here."

"What's your current location?" Batman asked swiftly.

"Juh-just off of East Ninth street, alleyway between O'Connor... And Main... Hoo boy, gotta keep movin', though..."

"Are you being followed?"

"Nah... At least, I sure hope not." He tried to chuckle, but it came out as another cough. "Merlyn- he got away. With help. B-brought some friends with him, this time... Wanted to lure out me... and the kid... See if we, were really, working together..."

"Were you? I saw some of the news feed - enough to known the three of you were all on the same rooftop."

"Eh, not... Not especially..."

"Maybe if the two of you did, you wouldn't be in this kind of mess so often."

"That's not helpful," Green Arrow growled. In the Batwing, Robin and Batgirl fought desperately to contain their giggles, knowing the seriousness of the situation.

"It's not supposed to be." Batman supplied. "But you still need to consider-"

"Hold on a sec, Bats, I - I think I, heard something." All three crimefighters in the plane waited silently until the archer returned. "... Nevermind. Now, what were, we saying? Right, your unhelpful advi- Ahh!" A sudden sizzling was heard, followed by Arrow's sharp yell of pain.

"Arrow? Green Arrow!" They all caught the distinctive whack of the comm. unit being dropped to the ground, followed by the slightly softer whump of a body landing beside it. A few muffled voices could be heard, thumps from something being moved, and then a large vehicle's engine starting up before being driven away.

"I gonna take a wild guess here and say somebody grabbed him." Batgirl remarked dryly, trying to keep a neutral expression on her face. Robin was bothering with no such pretense - his worry was plain to see.

Batman was about to open his mouth to calm both of them when a new sound was picked up by the comm. link: light footsteps, coming closer. A slight rustling, and then a hesitant voice spoke.

"H-hello?"

A hand held up by Batman warned both his partners not to speak. "Hello."

"Whoa. This thing really does work." The voice, sounding like a male teen, had a faintly impressed tone. "Glad to see he wasn't just talking to himself."

"Did you see what happened to Green Arrow?" Batman asked carefully.

"Y-yeah. Bunch a people in ninja costumes came out of nowhere. I think four or five of them zapped him with some kind of electrified staff all at once." In their seats, both younger crimefighters winced in sympathy. "Then they pulled off his bow and quiver, dropped those, and dragged him into a van. Some left with it; the others just went and vanished into the shadows. Um... I probably should have asked sooner, but who is this?"

"Batman."

"_Holy sh-!_" Several rapid rustles and whacks indicated the person speaking had nearly dropped the comm. and was struggling to regain hold of it. "Uh, I mean, okay."

"And I take it you're the Shadow Archer?" The gulp may not have been audible, but all three Gotham heroes could still tell it was taking place.

"Uh, yeah, that's... Well, that's what the papers call me."

"Do you have a name you'd prefer to go by?"

"... Not really. Now, um, I hate to be rude, but I kinda need to go save the Arrow before my tracer falls off the van."

Batgirl couldn't help but pantomime a whistle of admiration. The day after his conversation with Oliver about the young fan, Batman had given both her and Robin all the information as he learned it. They knew that this Shadow Archer lived in a poor area, didn't have much to work with - and yet he'd managed to cobble together a working tracking device?

Very impressive.

She jerked her mind back to the present as Batman continued speaking.

"-happen to be on our way to Star already. If you sit tight, we'll join you in rescuing Green Arrow."

"Ah, n-no offense, b-but I don't really f-feel comfortable working with a big name type-"

"Oh, he's not that bad!" Robin piped up, unable to stay silent a moment longer. Batman tried sending him a warning glare, but a slight squeak on the comm. line signaled that it was too late.

"Was- was that-"

"Robin, nice to meet you."

"And Batgirl, too." She shot both her partners, one grinning and one frowning, her own smirk. "Have we mentioned it would be nice to meet another young crimefighter in the making?"

Her words were met with stunned silence, and Robin winced in sudden worry.

"Nuts, you don't think we broke him, do you?"


	3. Episode 1: A Speedy Shadow, Part 3

"_Nuts, you don't think we broke him, do you?"_ Gaping, it was all Roy could do to not drop the small device all over again. They were coming. They were speaking to him. _The_ Batman. _The_ Robin. _The _Batgirl. He couldn't even wrap his head around it.

Sure, Roy had spent a couple years admiring, and figuring out how to be like, Green Arrow, Star City's home-grown crimefighter and superhero. But these were the Bats of Gotham! Not just one of the first big-name capes, but his teenage partners too - both of whom were partially responsible for Roy to make the decision and step into the world of crimefighting on his own two feet.

_And they were coming to... to..._

Talk to him? Work with him? Knock out, tie up and drop him off with youth services?

"Oh, boy," Roy breathed, trying to derail that train of thought. He really needed to try and focus right now.

"_Are you still there, Archer?"_ The deep voice came again from the device in his hand. Roy started to nod, then mentally smacked himself.

"Y-yeah, I'm still h-here. That just, kinda, threw me for a loop, I guess."

"_Well, if that's the case, you're already taking it better than a lot of other people." _Batgirl's age was a little tricky to pin down from her voice, which sounded like it was somewhere in the transition from to teen to adult - encouraging. Although, the high-pitched snicker reminded him that Robin was definitely younger. And Roy had next to no experience dealing with kids - he could hardly stand to be around 'em.

"Listen, I'd love to stick around and chat, but I've really got to go save Green Arrow." As soon as his mind was back to the problem at hand, Roy's voice regained some of his usual confidence, and lost the stupid stuttering he got whenever nervous.

"_... How accurate is your tracer?"_ Blinking, Roy reached for the makeshift console attached to the bottom of his quiver. When turned on, the tracker would beep louder when it was pointed in the same direction as the transmitter arrowhead, and more frequently the closer he got to it. Maybe not the most precise thing in the world, but it would get him within a few yards of the arrow without too much difficulty.

"Pretty good. I haven't got the time to start trying to transfer the signal to you, but maybe when I find those ninja's I can shoot up a flare, or-"

"_Just keep this comm. unit with you and turned on. We can follow it to within a foot of your position."_

Apparently, that was at the high-end for precision trackers. Roy wasn't sure whether his few yards of leeway should seem impressive or paltry by comparison.

"Okay, just- just don't slow me up or anything." Getting his feet to move was easy, though Roy couldn't help but mentally kick himself over the lame instruction. These were some of the longest-running crimefighters around - and he had seriously just told them not to slow _him_ down?

Some days, Roy just wished he could rewind time a few seconds and stop himself from saying the really dumb things that leaked out.


	4. Episode 1: A Speedy Shadow, Part 4

"So, how do we know this kid isn't working with whoever snatched GA?" Batgirl asked, leaning over the back of her mentor's seat. Still focused on guiding the plane after the moving signal sent from the League comm. unit, Batman only took a bare moment to answer her.

"We don't."

"Oh _that's_ reassuring." She sat back with a huff. Robin snickered at her disgusted expression.

"Well, to be fair, if he was a bad guy, there really wasn't any reason to pick up the comm-"

"Unless he's leading us away from where the ninjas took Arrow."

"Okay, but come on - you heard that kid's voice when he was talking. Did he really sound like the fast-thinking double agent type?" Batgirl opened her mouth to reply, but thought back to the ridiculous stutters, as well as his shocked silence when she and Rob had spoken up over the transmission line. She could easily picture him as on level with some of the more nervous nerds at her school, but as a helper of ninja fighters? Not so much.

"Fine." Robin quirked an eyebrow at her sudden reversal. "But if this turns out to be a trap, I'm getting all your portions of Alfred's late night desserts for a week."

He grinned. "Done."

"Heads up, you two." Batman called their attentions back. "We're here." He was guiding the Batwing down onto the roof of a darkened office building, right at the edge of the business and industrial areas. At the edge of structure, the figure of the mysterious Shadow Archer was just finishing his climb up an arrow-launched cable.

Robin was, of course, the first one out, landing first on his hands before flipping up to his feet in front of the startled figure. Batgirl followed a bit more solemnly while Batman finished locking up the plane, and took a moment to study the hero-gig-newcomer.

He wore a red hoodie that was too large for him; even being secured by a belt around his waist, the bottom extended down to mid-thigh. The sleeves had been torn off at the shoulder, revealing a tight black t-shirt and strips of what looked like dark leather wrapped down the lengths of his forearms. Black combat boots and dark grey cargo pants patched with a mixture of cloth scraps and duct tape covered his legs and feet, while a long piece of red cloth around his head underneath the hood, with eye holes cut out, served as his mask. Over his shoulders, the teen had both his own plain looking quiver and bow as well as the more stylized ones removed from Green Arrow.

Batgirl also couldn't help but notice that while the vigilante sounded young, he was pretty tall for his age, and looked like he'd been a fighter for a number of years, if the defined muscles and defensive posture were anything to go by.

Robin either took all of that in faster than she did, or else was completely ignoring it, as he'd already introduced himself and started asking the awed newcomer where his tracker was pointing too. Granted, the both of them were taken aback by the ancient-looking piece of tech the teen brought out, and the beeping noises it made.

"It should be in the building just over there." He said quietly, pointing to a shipping center across the street from their position, and several stories shorter. Batman dropped silently down from the Batwing, taking in both the teen and the target.

A few seconds later, he turned with a sweep of the cape, and faced the nervous vigilante face on.

"This is where you need to make a decision, Archer." He spoke with the inspire-fear-in-the-hearts-of-villains voice, which Batgirl found a tad unnecessary.

"W-what decision?"

"Whether or not you really want to get immersed in this life, and come with us, or stick to your playing hero and leave. We don't know how many or how serious the opponents in that building are, and you'd be risking a lot by coming in. Not to mention, we've been cutting you some slack up until this point; joining means we'll be looking at you a lot more closely after this is all over."

Despite his paled skin and nervous expression, Batgirl was impressed when the teen didn't shake or gulp. Instead, he carefully raised his eyes to meet those of Batman's, and nodded once. Without another word, the Dark Knight returned to scoping out their target.

"Robin, you and I will head around to the rear entrance and slip in that way. Batgirl, I want you and Shadow here to enter through that skylight; observe the interior, find a good sniper position for him, then be ready to join us in the fight." A noise of affirmative from her was enough to send him on his way, Robin a second later. Batgirl shifted to eye the blinking teen next to her.

"Ready to move, or do you want another minute to process that you just agreed to work with the Batman of Gotham?" She teased. At least, she meant to tease - the implications of what he'd just done still seemed to be sinking in for the kid. He let out a rather undignified squeak, and when she snickered, his face turned the same shade of red as his hoodie.

"Let's, um, let's just go." The teen muttered, reaching for another of his cable arrows. Internally, Batgirl kept laughing all the way to the skylight they snuck in through.


	5. Episode 1: A Speedy Shadow, Part 5

Picking the lock on the skylight had been easy; getting the Shadow Archer and his two sets of weaponry inside and into the shadows of the perimeter catwalk took a bit of doing, but Batgirl managed. She whispered for him to stay put, then started sneaking around the walkway in the direction that Batman said he and Robin would be coming from.

Sudden voices below caught her attention and made the teen freeze in place.

A group of ninjas in back jumpsuits came around the corner of a massive conveyor belt - and two were dragging a limp Green Arrow between them, arms cuffed behind his back. Batgirl had to force herself to stay put as the group approached the center of the room. The ones holding the GA dropped him, then all the ninjas spread out into a wide circle around his prone form.

Then a man with a similar style of clothing, but a quiver of black arrows over one shoulder and a curved bow in hand emerged from the shadows almost directly below her. The hand not carrying his weapon held the handle and edge of a large bucket, which he raised while approaching Arrow. Tensing, Batgirl was ready to pull out one of her projectiles to launch at him before registering just what was in the container.

When he reached Green Arrow, the man upended the bucket of ice water over him.

Jerking with startled spasms and sputters, the vigilante turned an incredulous eye up at his adversary, who smirked smugly.

"Come now, Arrow, you didn't think I'd be so mundane as to awaken you with smelling salts, now did you?"

"G-go, jump in, the river, Merlyn _*cough*_ s-see, how much, you _*cough*_ like it." Apparently, even in his current predicament, Green Arrow couldn't find it in himself to stop spitting out insults. Merlyn tutted, tossing the now empty bucket off to one side. Then Batgirl felt a shudder as he plucked an arrow with a razor edge from his quiver, and started poking at GA with it.

"Ah... So, it's gonna be, torture, and then death, right?" Arrow couldn't help but ask, gradually getting his breath back but still shivering from the cold water and wheezing a bit now and then. Chuckling cruelly, Merlyn jabbed his arrowhead in a little bit harder, trying to get a flinch out of the downed hero.

"Well, torture certainly, I do need so form of entertainment until your little admirer shows up."

Green Arrow went abruptly still. Then he growled in a near perfect imitation of Batman. "You leave that kid out of this, Merlyn. He doesn't have anything to do with me."

Now the assassin threw back his head and laughed outright. "Oh, _of course,_ an impressionable young boy running around Star City, fighting criminals with a bow and arrow, doesn't have _anything _to do with your influence."

He moved slightly, to be better able to peer down at GA's masked eyes. As Merlyn continued to speak, the ninjas in the circle slowly faded back into the shadows, and Batgirl had a bad premonition flit through her mind."The only thing I'm truly wondering is how much the boy takes after you in regards to arrogance. If, for example, he will arrive and burst through the doors without thinking, believing he can fight and take down my men and I single-handedly, as you have in the past. Or, perhaps, he might have already tracked you here, and is biding his time to attack."

Sure enough, in the darkness to her left, Batgirl saw a flicker of movement indicating that at least one ninja had climbed up to the catwalk to search for intruders. Unfortunately for them, a Bat of Gotham was a little harder to sneak up on than the average person. When the black-clad man reached the place she'd been hiding, there was no sign of Batgirl - but as he began to creep by, she dropped down from the rafters above, and silently knocked him out. Letting the ninja down gently to muffle any noise of impact, she quickly began to move back to the teen Archer's position, in case he couldn't dispatch any ninjas as quietly as her.

It seemed that would be the case, as a few moments later, muffled shouts and an explosion rang out from the catwalk ahead of her. Painful shrieks of stretched and protesting metal grated against her ears, and Batgirl watched with horror as the entire section of the walkway dropped to the concrete floor below. Three ninjas leapt clear as it landed with a spectacular _slam_ of sound and wreckage, causing the entire building to tremble a bit.

When the dust settled, the only sound to be heard was the steady clap of Merlyn's exaggerated footsteps as he approached the collapsed catwalk. After a long moment of peering around, he leaned over something Batgirl couldn't see from her position.

"Hello, boy."

She closed her eyes briefly, detecting the quiet mumble of whatever the teen said in response. Then Merlyn chuckled and called out to taunt the horror-stricken Green Arrow, who hadn't moved since the commotion.

"It seems his talent for insults is on the same level as yours, Arrow." And with that, Merlyn reached forward, and dragged the young Archer out by the hood of his jacket. Batgirl's frown deepened as she took in the position of his arms, wrapped tightly around the kid's midsection, as well as the trickle of blood visible through a tear in his right pants' leg. His own bow was gone, but the Archer still had both his and GA's quivers, as well as the green longbow secured to them.

As soon as he had the new captive clear of the wreckage, Merlyn dropped him with a thud, and turned back to his old enemy, not bothering to remove the teen's weapons.

"Nothing to do with you, eh, Arrow? Were you perhaps trying to convince me, or yourself with that line?"


	6. Episode 1: A Speedy Shadow, Part 6

"Were you perhaps trying to convince me, or yourself with that line?" Roy grit his teeth, trying to ignore both the physical pain of his injuries and the emotional drop he felt at hearing that. Nice to know where he stood with his idol, at least.

When the ninjas had appeared out of the shadows on the catwalk, Roy's bow already had an explosive-tipped arrow nocked and ready. The attacks had come quickly enough he didn't have to aim before he fired, then immediately had to jump to the side before he was caught in the explosion. Even so, he's been slammed first into the wall by the shockwave, then had the air knocked out of him by crashing to the ground floor. Roy wasn't sure when he'd gotten the long gash down his shin - all he knew was that it burned and throbbed worse with every passing minute. Adding that to the general ache of his ribs, and it was a wonder the teen was still awake and coherent.

Though he might not be for much longer, Roy realized, stifling another groan as the jerk in black and purple lightly kicked his wounded leg.

"Now see what your influence has done, Arrow. Everything that happens to this boy now is upon _your head._" Merlyn snarled, pressing his heel more sharply against Roy's gash. The teen couldn't help letting out a hiss of pain, and when he glanced over at the adult hero still lying in the middle of the open floor, the man was watching him with a mixture of fear and anger.

Roy turned his gaze back to the assassin standing over him. "Hey, jerk-face."

Merlyn looked down with an annoyed expression.

"Why don't you go jump in a septic tank? I'm sure there's plenty around this dump of a hideout to chose from." Grinning now, Roy's cheer at turning the villain's face red was doubled at Green Arrow's chuckle, strained as it was.

"Guess the kid's even quicker on the draw than me when it comes to words, eh, Lynny?" Now Merlyn directed his glare towards the hero for the use of such a ridiculous nickname. He reached down and grabbed a fistful of Roy's coppery hair, then proceeded to drag the struggling teen over to Arrow.

"I'm glad you two can laugh now," Merlyn ground out at them, dropping his captive and planting a foot onto his strained midsection. "Because there will be nothing but screams, later." He turned with a flourish, calling out orders to the ninjas, getting them ready to depart with the pair of captured archers.

"You okay, kid?" Arrow asked quietly, voice filled with concern.

Roy winced as he took in a shaky breath. "Y-yeah. Sore, but 'm fine."

"Good. Now, what were you thinking, coming in here to take them on?!"

"Don't yell-"

"I'm whisper-yelling!"

"Well, fine, but don't _whisper-yell_ at me. It was your crazy friends who got me into this mess, and they better be the ones to get us out of it."

"What crazy friends?"

The words had barely left Green Arrow's mouth when several small explosions went off around the far side of the nearest conveyor belt, followed immediately by the cries of at least half a dozen ninjas. Smoke started to spill out into the area where the pair of archers lay, and through it, Roy could make out the flickers of motion from two slim forms taking down the black-clad assassins. Hearing a curse, the teen craned his neck around just in time to see Merlyn, running back towards them, tackled to the ground by the dark shape that was Batman.

"Oh. Those friends." Arrow muttered beside him. "I should have known..." Roy ignored him in favor of the pain in his ribs, which magnified as the teen uncurled himself enough to seize an arrow from his quiver. The green longbow was about to come loose from its ties, so he grabbed it with his other hand.

"Think my arrowhead can cut through your cuffs there?" He asked, pushing himself to his knees, ignoring the fresh blood that continued to seep into his pants leg. The man copied his movement, though with a bit more trouble, as the cuffs in question still had his arms trapped behind his back.

"Uh... I doubt it. Might try one of mine, though." Green Arrow jerked his chin at the second quiver hanging from Roy's shoulder, but a sudden grunt caused both archers to glance up in surprise.

Batman was rising to his feet a little ways to their right, the scowl on his face even deeper than earlier (if that was possible). Moments later, Merlyn emerged from the growing cloud of smoke, an arrow nocked and pointed straight at the Dark Knight.

"Now, isn't this a treat." The villain rumbled, cocky smirk still in place. "I'd been planning on ridding myself of the Green Amateur and his brat, but now, I can do the world a service by removing the Bat of Gotham himself."

"Hey!" Both Arrow and Roy protested angrily together.

"You seem awfully sure of yourself," Batman returned, ignoring the indignant archers. "Especially for someone who isn't going to have time to fire more than one arrow." Merlyn's eyes flickered to the shadows around him, where the sounds of combat between his followers and the Bat's partners had ceased. To his dismay, it was the pair of young heroes who emerged into the open air, their smiles and attack-ready positions making it all too clear who had won.

"Then I'll gladly take my consolation prize!" Confident facade gone in an instant, the assassin's words came out in a grim snarl. He shifted his stance and fired just before the weapons of Batgirl and Robin took him down.

Roy's eyes widened as the black arrow was released. Without thinking, he fitted his own arrow to the bow in his hands, brought it up and released in a split second. The plain projectile whistled away, striking the villain's bolt mid-flight, and sabotaging its intended course into Green Arrow's chest.

A moment of stunned silence prevailed over the floor, broken when Arrow let out a relieved cackle.

"Now that was some speedy aiming!"


	7. Episode 1: A Speedy Shadow, Part 7

It took almost an hour to get the proper authorities over the the shipping center to gather up and take into the custody the secured assassins. In that time, not only had the trio of Bats pulled out GA and the Speedy Shadow, as Batgirl was now thinking of him, but given each some necessary medical attention on a nearby rooftop. Both had bruised ribs, Arrow's from his rough landing after the earlier battle downtown, Speedy's from the force of the explosion when he went up against some of the ninjas. Batman himself had set to cleaning out and then bandaging the long gash down the teen's leg, handing him a couple painkiller tablets while working. The younger archer accepted it all wordlessly, still lost in his thoughts over all that had happened that night.

Eventually, Batman's glare cut through Arrow's complaints over still being cold and wet. A nod towards the teen was enough to tell GA all he needed: go talk or else.

Also getting the message, Robin and Batgirl moved back a ways to give the archers some measure of privacy.

"Think he might actually ask Speedy to become his partner?" The college student asked in a whisper. Her younger partner raised an eyebrow at the name, but could only shrug in answer.

"It's the kid's choice." Robin replied simply. Batgirl couldn't help but smile and start to tease him over calling an obviously older teenager "kid".

Ignorant of the conversation behind them, Green Arrow was trying to figure how to phrase his words.

"Look, kid, much as I appreciate the save, I think we need to figure out if you really want to do this kind of life. I mean, you've just seen how dangerous it can be, and, well, I'd hate for you to not get off so lightly the next time some big-name crook comes to town."

The teen's face, which had been slightly hopeful a few moments ago, fell. "Oh."

"Don't get me wrong, you handled just as well as I would have, maybe better, but you're also just a kid. Teen. Sorry," He tried to backtrack, seeing the miffed expression. "You'd need a lot of practice- er, experience- no- training, to be able to go up against some of the guys I fight, all of which would put you in danger even if you did a good job."

"So, is this a talk to get me to drop the bow, or keep using it?"

"Um... Neither. What I mean is, being a hero is up to you. I don't want to influence your decision."

Staring at him with an unreadable expression, the teen slowly backed up from Arrow. "No offense, but that just tells me you don't care one way or the other." With that, he turned and jumped off the edge of the roof. Green Arrow started to hurry after him, at least until a metallic clang told the hero that the teen had landed on the fire escape.

"Arrow?" The sudden voice behind him made the archer stiffen, even as his mind firmly told his body that jumping in surprise at the intrusion of a Bat was undignified.

He turned his head slightly to glare at the man in black who was now right next to him. "What?"

Arching an eyebrow at the annoyed tone, Batman wordlessly crossed his arms and waited for an explanation.

"Oh come on, Bats, you knew I wasn't going to do a very good job with this."

"Doesn't mean you couldn't have done better than that." The Bat returned instantly.

"He's right, GA - what kind of talk were you even aiming for?" Robin piped up, moving closer with Batgirl. Sighing, the archer was unable to articulate a reply for them.

"Did you ever read the file I put together for you?" Batman asked suddenly. Arrow blinked at him.

"What file." The younger heroes started to snicker, unable to stop even in the face of their mentor's glare.

"We're going to your headquarters," He growled. "You will read the documents I gathered, figure out what you want to say to that boy, and then we'll be doing this the direct way."

Green Arrow gulped.

As usual, Roy started shedding his weapons and costume pieces as he made his way now the dingy, dimly lit stairwell. None of the building's other residents lived higher up than his apartment on the fourth floor, so there was no danger of running into anyone up here, especially in the middle of the day.

With a sigh, he unlocked the front door of his home, twisted the knob, and jammed his left shoulder against the dark wood to force it open past the sticking point. This left him in a widened entrance full of light from the apartment, hands full of gear, and still in mostly full costume as Roy registered that he was not alone.

Two men in expensive-looking suits were waiting for him. His first thought was that bruisers from some crime lord were here to rough him up, in which case his still sore ribs and weakened leg were going to be problematic. Not easily able to run, the teen took a few precious seconds to analyze the men.

One, with dark hair that matched his outer jacket and pants, stood closer to window, keeping his attention divided between Roy and the street below. The other, in warmer colors of brown and green, sat on a turned around chair, his crossed forearms resting on the back of it.

Shockingly, Roy recognized the second man, and as such, he couldn't force his legs to move, or even any words to come out of his gaping mouth.

"Hi there. Roy Harper, right? My name's Oliver Queen." The guy reached out a hand to shake, but then thought better of it as he caught sight of Roy's full arms. "You need a hand with all that?"

"Uh..." Blinking, the teen glanced down as his obvious crimefighter gear, and wondered why this, this- _billionaire_ wasn't freaking out. Come to think of it, why the heck was Oliver Queen even in his home at all? And _how _did he get in, for that matter?

Roy didn't realize these questions were actually coming out of his mouth as he thought of them, at least not until Mr. Queen chuckled and started answering.

"First off, we broke in, but didn't damage anything, so you don't have to worry on that score. Second, I came because it would be pretty much impossible to meet you any other way."

"Meet... Meet _me?!_" Roy would normally hate himself for sounding so squeaky, but right now he had other concerns. "_Why?_"

"I think you can answer that one for yourself, Speedy." Mr. Queen looked meaningfully at the costume Roy was still wearing, and while the teen tried to register what the man had just called him, he moved to close the door behind them.

"Figured it out yet?" He asked cheerfully, taking Roy's elbow and leading the flabbergasted boy over to his sagging sofa.

"Y-you- I mean, you can't be- that, that isn't-"

"Just start explaining to him already, Ollie." The dark haired man by the window said sternly, bringing up yet another odd connection in Roy's mind to the night before. These two men weren't... They couldn't be...

Setting down his stuff next to him, Roy had his attention grabbed by Mr. Queen who, dragging over the chair he'd been in previously, began to tell an amazing story: a lazy rich-boy, a villain out for revenge, becoming a castaway on an abandoned island. Learning to shoot a bow, to survive; getting rescued, and deciding to become a hero. It all sounded too incredible, forcing Roy to take a few minutes after the story ended just to absorb it all.

"So... If you meant it when you said being a hero was up to me, why are you here now?" He finally asked. Mr. Queen opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a file folder being slapped down next to Roy. Stifling the sudden impulse to flinch, the teen flipped it open - and froze.

It was a file on him.

A few documents on his parents, a copy of his birth certificate, early school records, excellent report cards giving way to papers from juvie hall, hospital bills, and finally...

"It's clear you've been taking care of yourself for a long time, Roy, even before your folks passed away." Mr. Queen said softly as the other man retreated back to his original spot. "And while I admire the independent streak your alter-ego has maintained, a fifteen year old shouldn't be on his own out here." About to declare hotly that he'd been doing just fine, the teen was barely able to swallow his response as Queen continued, "You've got no reason to trust me, I suppose, but after our work together last night, I'm convinced you can do a lot better with the right resources. I mean, you managed to craft arrows almost as good as mine with an awful lot less to work with. So, I came here, to both admit that I know your name, and to give you mine - and ask if you'd be willing to step back into the legal system to let me take you in as a foster son."

"You- what?"

"It would be completely up to you, but that way we could work together a lot more easily, as well as give you a steady home, maybe get back into school-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. As- as much as I appreciate the offer, Mr. Queen, you can't just expect me to-"

"Ollie."

"Huh?"

"I'd rather you call me Ollie." Grinning sheepishly, he ran a hand back through his tousled blond hair. "Mr. Queen is for people that don't know me, Oliver for those who think they do- and Ollie for those I'm really close to."

And just like that, something in Roy's chest felt lighter. Someone... To be close to. He couldn't remember the last time there'd been someone like that in his life.

It sounded nice.

Off by the window, Bruce couldn't help but feel pleased as Roy gave Ollie a tentative nod of acceptance. With luck, the pair of archers could figure out a new normal soon, though if his past experiences with Barbara and Dick were anything to go by, things would be rough going for at least a week or two.

Bruce just hoped Ollie wouldn't be continually calling him for advice.


	8. Author's Interlude 1

Author's Interlude

Well, this concludes the first episode of my storyline (I hope you all enjoyed it!). I decided to submit the last entry a bit earlier than usual, just so I could stick in this explanation:

There are (at the moment) sixteen more planned episodes, and I'll probably be brainstorming even more in the future. I'll be continuing to post them here, in chunks, with one update a weekend, maybe more than that if it's a special occasion. Most likely, as time goes on and I get more involved with other projects, there will be breaks in between episodes, when I've finished one and need some time before starting the next.

So, now Roy is on his way to being an official Partner, the first of several. The next few episodes will also be introducing new individuals, but he'll be back around eventually - and we'll get to see just how the relationship between archers develops, as well as how Roy gets to interact with his fellow Partners.

So long!

-Triscribe

Next Episode: Doubled Sided


	9. Episode 2: Double Sided, Part 1

Emerging from the decrepit establishment known as the Layman's Club and Bar, Commissioner Gordon took a moment to observe his officers, about half of whom were returning to their squad cars in order to get out of the biting wind. Winter had come early to Gotham City, and even the thick jumpsuit-like uniforms of the police department did little to keep out the cold.

Sighing, the man adjusted his scarf and stepped around to the alley that ran around and behind the building. This was the fourth occasion he and his people had tried to clear out a nest of suspected criminal activity, only to strike out. The owners and managers of Gotham's sprawl of clubs, casinos and similar establishments had gotten smarter in their servicing the city's massive assortment of law-breakers. Secret rooms and passages, a warning network of some kind, and other tricks that served to help criminals slip away under the police force's collective nose had become the new normal.

And it was possibly the most infuriating thing he's dealt with since curbing Chief Rojas' exuberance for taking down the Batman.

Speaking of whom...

Not even a full minute after Gordon stepped into the shadows of the alley, a particularly large and black one separated from the masses to approach him.

"No luck?" Batman asked, though the Commissioner highly suspected he already knew the answer to that question.

"None. Back room held a bunch chairs in a semicircle around a map on the wall, by the occupants were all gone by the time we got past the main area. I've got my men searching for a hidden panel or trapdoor right now.

"Even if they find one, it won't do much good in the long run." The Dark Knight mused, his eyes narrowing. "We need to infiltrate their alarm network, sabotage it if possible."

"You mean getting someone on the inside? It could take months, if not longer, to have an infiltrator become trusted enough to learn that kind of information-"

"No, I mean getting someone already within the system to tell us how it works." Ignoring Gordon's skeptical look, Batman pulled out one of his Bat-wave's and selected a list he'd been compiling. He showed it to the Commissioner, whose expression turned thoughtful.

"Alright... Let me know if you have any luck, okay?" Nodding, Batman turned to go, but Gordon had one last question on his mind. "Where are your partners, if you don't mind me asking?"

There was a considerable pause before he was answered. "Batgirl has an assignment on the other side of town. Robin is staying home until his new polar suit is finished."

"Oh, good. I don't mind saying, I was a little concerned about the kid and his short sleeves being out in this."

"His new uniform will still have them, but include thermal heating in the fabric."

Gordon blinked. "Huh. I'll have to remember that for _our_ uniforms at the next budget meeting."

"I'd suggest talking to Wayne Industries, then - their tech is the safest of what's available." Batman couldn't help but mention. Then he was gone again into the darkness.

"Get outta here, ya lousy two-faced cheat!" A man came tumbling out of the club, his previously carefully stacked deck of cards scattered through the air after him.

"What about my money?!" He cried, struggling to get upright in the half-frozen slush. The bouncer in the doorway just laughed, nastily.

"After you tried t'scam these tables? It's my money now!" With that, the door slammed shut, taking the heat of the club's interior with it.

"Jerks." He muttered, already shivering from the wetness pervading his pants and jacket. Almost two grand would have been his, if that mobster hadn't pulled a final King - and exposed his own pair of extras.

Sighing, he started to grab what soaked cards he could, and didn't bother to try and chase down the ones caught by the wind. He'd have to lay low for a few days, before trying again, preferably in some clubs that hadn't caught wind of his reputation yet. Easier said than done, these days.

Not seeing anymore playing cards, he started shuffling towards the nearest alleyway to head back towards his ragged apartment. The instant he stepped into the shadows, though, an eerie feeling on the back of his neck warned that it was a bad idea. Quickly, he turned around to retrace his steps, only for someone to grab the back of his sodden jacket and drag him off of his feet.

"Hey-" The business end of a revolver shoved in his face cut off any more noise he might have made.

"Valuables, punk. Now."

"Buddy, if I had 'em, I'd give 'em." He answered honestly. The man holding the gun snarled and pushed him further down the alley.

"You don't have cash, you gotta pay some way." Gulping, he tried to ignore the fear and, dare he say it, _anger_ welling up inside.

"Look, what if I promised to bring you-"

"Oh, no, I know how that works. You run off and don't come back, of worse!"

"Worse wouldn't happen to include us, would it?" A young voice called out, and suddenly there was a rather large shadow landing behind the mugger. The gun held to his face was knocked away by something fast moving and red, while the man himself received a knockout punch to the jaw.

"You okay there, Mister?" Turning, he tried not to become slack-jawed at the sight of the kid who now stood beside him. The Bird might be one of Gotham's trio of dark protectors, but the pipsqueak didn't look like he could be more than ten years old!

But speaking of dark protectors...

Batman, THE Batman, stood up from cuffing the unconscious mugger and approached him. Swallowing back the awe, he tried to stammer out a thank you.

"I-if you h-hadn't g-gotten here, th-then I'd be-"

"Don't think about it." The Dark Knight interjected.

"Yeah, this was your lucky day, after all!" His brightly colored partner grinned.

"Well, um, y-you ever need a favor, just let me know, okay?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, back the way he'd come. "I-I mean, I get kicked out more often than not, but y-you guys have been going after the Circuit lately, right?"

The Bat's eyes narrowed while he spoke. "The Circuit?"

"Y-yeah, all the joints that are friendly to the crooks in this town. Like, Greene's back there, they got a private room in the back that the big names like to use whenever they're gonna work together on something. And the Berkman Parlor, they've got a sub-basement that connects to the old subway system, for moving goods or just providing a place for folks on the run to crash for a couple nights."

While he babbled on, Batman and Robin exchanged an unreadable glance. Finally, the Dark Knight held up a hand to slow him down, while the kid stepped away and pulled some fancy gadget out of his belt.

"Look, Mister-"

"Dent, Harvey Dent."

"... Mr. Dent, do you know details like this about all the establishments on the Circuit?"

"Oh, sure, I've been working tables and private games at a lot of these clubs for a long time now, and I see the stuff they usually prefer not to get out, right? Anything you need to know, I'll see about getting, okay?"

Robin came back over as the Bat asked his next question. "Why are you so willing to tell us?"

He shrugged sheepishly. Harvey couldn't really explain the sudden desire to help out, but it may have been the relief at not getting shot that was doing all the talking.

"Hey, one good turn deserves another, right? And besides, I've been lucky so far, haven't been around whenever you or the cops have come in to shake a place down. But, if I can help you out, it hedges my bets for avoiding being in a crossfire."

"Makes sense to me." Robin the mentioned as bright lights and a deep rumbling came around the corner. Shielding his eyes, Harvey wasn't expecting the Bat to step away, then return with a thick blanket in one hand and a high tech little box in the other. With a shield from the cold now wrapped tightly around himself, the new informant paid close attention as Batman explained how to use the communications device.

"Any information you send will come straight to me, in the form of typed messages or verbal. I'd also like to pass your name to Commissioner Gordon, just in case the Bat-wave ever breaks and you need to get in touch with me."

He couldn't hide his wince. "Ah, ok, if you have to. I've run into the Commish's boys a few times; can't say they like me very much. But- I said I'd help, and I will." The Bat nodded as Robin grinned even wider. When the two went to jump into their fancy car, taking the limp mugger with them, Harvey thought to ask one last thing.

"Hey! This doo-dad's got some kind of tracker in it, right?"

"Yes. Is that a problem for you?"

"Naw, it's a good thing! I ever get found out by some mooks who don't like my talking to you, I expect a quick rescue, alright?"

"Of course."

"See ya around, Harv!"

And with that, they were gone. Harvey started walking slowly in the direction of his apartment, considering just how fast his luck had changed. It was almost like fate had flipped a coin, just for him.

"Can we head back to the Cave after we drop this thug off and talk to Gordon?" Robin asked as they drove. "It's freezing out here, even with the extra stuff Alfred put in my costume."

"One more patrol first." Batman answered, a small smirk tugging at his lips. "I doubt Dent's the only person who'll be too busy trying to get home in this weather to pay attention to common sense."

"Hm. We sure got lucky, didn't we?"

"If you mean in finding Harvey Dent before he got himself killed, then yes."

Behind his mask, Robin couldn't help but roll his eyes. "I _meant_ with him volunteering to bring us dirt on the clubs even before we got the chance to ask."

After a moment, Batman nodded wordlessly. Dent's name had been rather close to the top of the list of possible informants he'd presented to the Commissioner the night before. The man was barely above the level of a nobody in the clubs - he had enough skill at being a card shark to get in, but not so much that criminals were willing to waste their resources to kill him. A recent string of bad luck had been setting him at odds with club owners lately, as well, creating someone with a good motive for spilling their secrets.

Such a man was also a likely candidate for selling out Batman, though, so they'd have to be extra careful with any information he did send to them. The specialized communicator he'd given Dent had more security measures than Robin thought was necessary, but the Dark Knight wasn't willing to risk it falling into more evil hands and being used against him and his partners.

Things had gone well tonight, or lucky, as the eleven year old beside him was inclined to claim, but that wasn't good enough reason to drop his guard around their new informant just yet.


	10. Author's Interlude 2

Y'know, I'd been planning to do more with this episode, but distractions with my other stories have prompted me to hurry up and get towards material I've already written or worked on. I might end up going back and filling in, but for now, let's jump onwards and upwards to:

Episode 3: The Kryptonian Kid


	11. Episode 3: The Kryptonian Kid, Part 1

"Is Supes gonna show up today, or not?" Flash asked impatiently, pacing around the Watchtower's monitor hall. Once again, Batman was glad for the friction-resistant padding he'd insisted be installed. The floor would still be worn down by the speedster's incessant steps, but at least the process took longer than before.

"He said he'd try," J'onn answered amicably from his place by the control panel. "Whatever crashed near Metropolis last month has proven of great worth to study, or so his last message said."

"I still wonder what caught his attention." It was tricky to keep his voice devoid of the curiosity that powered the particular statement, but Batman managed. He always did. Lantern and Arrow both nodded in agreement, though their attention was suddenly caught by the elevator door sliding open to admit another of their number.

"Am I late?" Hawkman asked cheerfully, striding into the room.

"No, we're still debating whether or not to wait for Superman before we start." The Martian explained. Hawkman paused and looked at them in surprise.

"But he's downstairs." He said. Now all the assembled heroes were staring at their Thanagarian member. "Had this weird expression on his face, but told me to go on ahead of him, and make sure you were all here."

Batman's eyes narrowed, and Flash, having come to a stop beside the Dark Knight, took a subtle step back.

"Oh, really?" Still speaking in his usual monotone, the Bat's mere couple of words were enough to make the other heroes hope that their final teammate would have a very good excuse with him. When said teammate appeared in the doorway, they all noticed how awkwardly he was standing.

Cautiously peeking into the room, Superman took in all of their position's with a sweep of his nervous eyes.

"Uh... I hope you guys don't mind, but after spending all this time keeping you in the dark, I decided to share what's been keeping me so busy lately." The Kryptonian said with a sheepish grin.

"Would that be why you wanted all of us together in one place?" Batman asked sternly, not liking being unaware of what was going on around him.

"Well, ah... It seemed the best way to cut down on the number of times I need to explain what happened." Superman muttered.

All of the Leaguers stiffened at the tiny voice that spoke in a subdued tone. Twisting to glance behind him without moving, Superman responded gently in a language the others didn't recognize. The tiny voice replied a little more worry in it, causing him to sigh and turn to kneel.

Batman felt his eyes widen of their own accord at the sight of the little girl standing behind his teammate. Her short blond hair fell in a ragged curtain around her face, and her hands continually twisted the silvery fabric that formed the dress and cloak she wore. The girl repeated her words, glancing around the monitor hall with more than a little fear.

"English, Kara; you need to practice." Superman softly chided her. She took a moment to frown at him before responding.

"Are you _certain_ that these are friends?"


	12. Episode 3: The Kryptonian Kid, Part 2

"Explain, Kent." Batman growled, causing every other hero in the room to wince. Not only was the Dark Knight's tone terrifying, but his use of Superman's secret identity never boded well.

"Well, everyone, this is my cousin, Kara." Nervously, Superman stepped fully into the room, the little girl following with a firm grip on his cape. "She crash landed on Earth last month, just like I did as a baby." If anything, the kid shrunk in on herself even more at those words.

"Wait, so, she's another Kryptonian?" Green Arrow asked in confusion. "How's that even possible?"

Superman gave a half hearted chuckle. "Well, it's a little unclear, but there's no doubt about it." He would have gone on, but another glare from Batman stole the words away. With a slight jerk of the head, the Dark Knight signaled the other hero to come over for a private word.

"So, um, excuse me for a second, Kara. It's okay, I promise." Superman assured her, easily disentangling the girl's hand from his cape before stepping away. She didn't move, aside from hunching her shoulders and staring pensively at the other Leaguers.

"What were you thinking? How can you have 'no doubt' about this child?" Batman hissed once he and the Kryptonian stood several feet away. Both Superman and Kara frowned simultaneously at his words, despite neither being able to see the other's face.

"I know you think this wasn't a good idea, but trust me on this: she _is _my cousin. The spaceship she came in had a message from a man named Zor-el, who my own records from my Kryptonian parents said was my uncle-"

"Blood aside, Kent, where did she come from? Your original planet was destroyed over twenty-five years ago, with - supposedly - no other survivors aside from _you._ So _how_ did she come to land here _now?"_

While Batman chewed out his fellow hero, one of the others got over his bewilderment.

"Hi there, Kara. My name's Flash." The speedster knelt down and stuck out a hand. The kid blinked at it for a moment before tentatively reaching out her own. Just as her fingers curled for the shake, Superman turned around and caught sight of them.

"Wait a second, Fl-" His words were cut off by the _crack_, audible even to those without superhearing. Flash's face contorted in pain for a brief moment as he pulled the broken fingers out of Kara's frozen grip.

When the girl did find her voice again, it tumbled out fast and panicked. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to- I'm still trying- I just can't seem to-"

"Whoa, hey, kid, Kara, it's fine, I'm fine!" Speaking almost as fast as the anxious child in front of him, Flash held up his already-mending bones for her to see. "I heal pretty quick, okay? Another few hours, it'll be like nothing happened."

The display did little to sooth Kara's fright, though, and as her breathing continued to get faster, the room started getting colder.

"Kara!" Getting over his shock, Superman swiftly flew forward and scooped up the girl. "Easy, little one; you have super-breath, remember? Gotta take it slow." He spoke easily, softly - to Batman's ears it seemed the man was repeating something he'd had to be told before. Unfortunately, Kara's condition only worsened, and she started sobbing.

"Ev-ry-thi-ing, I, do, i-is, _dangerous!_" Her voice rose to a wail on this last word, and the girl buried her head in her hands, oblivious to Superman's arms wrapped around her.

"No, no, Kara, you just need more time, more practice." He tried to calm her down, to no avail. The smaller Kryptonian started shaking even harder, but when she raised her face to look up at Superman, her eyes were glowing red.

"I _told_ you I should be locked away! _I told you!_" Screaming now, laser beams shot out with the anger in Kara's words. Superman barely managed to jerk his head back in time to avoid being caught in them, but the Watchtower wasn't so lucky.

The lasers cut straight through the walls of the space station, releasing air and setting off several alarms. The sudden sirens and flashing lights caused Kara to jerk in fear, her heat vision slicing through more armored plating and into the control panels. J'onn tried to phase himself away from the damage, but an eruption of sparks and flame caught him anyway.

"Kent! Get your cousin under control!" Batman ordered, pulling out several pellets that were filled with a flame retardant. The other Leaguers hurried as well, trying to block the damage to the station and keep their artificial atmosphere from leaking away. Flash grabbed the groaning Martian and hurried him away to their medical bay as Batman started putting out the small fires.

Blinking in shock, Kara managed to turn off her heat vision, but Superman still moved her to one side of the room, out of the way.

"Can you- just, stay put?" He tried to ask. Kara nodded numbly, and watched as her cousin flew up and to the outer wall, using his own lasers to weld together the slashes she had made.

Seeing all the damage her new abilities caused... Within moments, Kara wobbled into the air, and took off out the door.

-C-

"So let me get this straight - while you all started freaking out and fixing the Watchtower, she slipped out the airlock _and none of you noticed?!_" Batgirl shook her head in disgust. "Some superheroes."

"Look," Batman growled, in a tone that had both her and Robin paying absolute attention. "What matters right now is that none of us can leave until all the systems are repaired and reset, which leaves the two of you to find this girl and keep her from doing anymore damage."

"Do... Do you want us to use the Kryptonite blaster?" Robin asked in a small voice. Knowing the trepidation behind it, Batman hesitated before answering.

"Take it with you, but only as a last resort. Kara's running scared, and while the blaster would be the most efficient way to stop her, I think you two have a decent chance at talking her down."

"Right. Any idea where we should start looking?"

"The last signal we were able to pick up before the sensor array caught fire indicating that she was heading for the North Pole."

"Why would- Oh, that Fortress place that Supes has set up, right?" Batman nodded to Robin's question. "So, um, how are we going to get there? The Batwing's still in the repair bay after Babs crashed it."

"I did not-! Ooh, nevermind. And don't call me Babs, Pixie-boots." The younger boy stuck a tongue out at her.

"Enough." Batman resisted the urge to sigh at his partners. "Go to the tech lab underneath Wayne Industries, and tell Lucius you need to use the Javelin prototype." That peaked both of their interests.

"What's the Javelin?"

"A new jet I've been designing for League use, capable of twice the speed of the Batwing and deep space travel. It's got the same basic controls - and as long as you stay within the atmosphere, you don't need to use anything else."

"Why are we only hearing about this now?" Batgirl demanded.

"Because I didn't want either of you sneaking it out for a joyride."

"Yeah, we've got jetpacks for that!" Robin still grinned in the face of his mentor's scowl.

"Just get going."

It wasn't until he cut the connection that Batman realized he hadn't specified how the two were supposed to go to the other base - by jetpack, motorcycle...

...Or if they were allowed to take the car or not.


	13. Episode 3: The Kryptonian Kid, Part 3

Lucius barely had time to jump out of the path of the wildly careening Batmobile coming into the lab. He opened his mouth to ask Bruce what in Heaven's name was the matter, but only let out a sigh of understanding as Batgirl emerged from the driver's seat.

"All I'm saying is, even _I _could drive this thing better than you!" Robin was teasing.

The teen snorted in amusement. "Yeah, right. I've got a couple years experience, and you have- oh, that's right, none."

"Do I want to know what you two think you're doing here?" Both of them glanced over at Lucius, who was wearing a neutral expression he'd learned from Alfred. Then they grinned.

"Batman's stuck in space right now, we need to get to the North Pole, and he said we should take the Javelin." Batgirl explained, and the grown man gulped.

"Oh... Did he now." Looking briefly at the hangar where he only so recently completed prototype was, Lucius couldn't help his anxiety. "And is it too much to hope that you'll bring it back in one piece?"

The grins got wider, which did not help settle Lucius' mind in the slightest.

-C-

Sobbing while she shakily flew, Kara didn't realize where she was heading until the Fortress she'd been living at the past month reared up in front of her blurry vision. Then the girl paused midair, barely holding her position while she thought.

With great trepidation, the small Kryptonian turned back and flew into the white expanse.

-C-

"This. Is. So. Cool!" Robin whisper-yelled, pressing his face to the window of the Javelin. In the pilot's seat beside him, Batgirl laughed, running her gaze over the panel of controls once again. Despite really wanting to know what they all did, the teen resisted the urge to start randomly pressing buttons.

The two of them were flying along at just over the speed of sound, yet the special design of the jet meant that neither needed to be in a flight suit. Below them, the frigid waters of the Atlantic were blown and buffeted by the passage of the Javelin.

"Hey Rob. Rob. Roooobin. Dick!" Tearing his eyes away from the incredible view, Robin turned to frown at his partner.

"What?" Batgirl nodded out the windshield ahead of them.

"Check it out."

Coming into view now was a thin band of white, stretching across from one side of the horizon to the other "Whoa." The kid breathed. "Guess that means we're here."

"Yep!" Checking the digital map display on the dash, Batgirl gently banked them a bit to the left. "Hopefully, we'll be at the Fortress inside of another twenty minutes."

Robin chuckled. "Do you realize we just traveled a third of the way around the globe in less than two hours?"

"It's official. We have the best toys ever." The words had just left Batgirl's mouth when an alarm started beeping.

Both youths stared at the little red warning light for a moment. Then Robin was leaning over, trying to bring up the display that would tell them what was wrong.

_Proximity alert, blizzard imminent._

"Oh, crud."

"That seat strap secure?" Batgirl asked him, her expression turning grim as the radar screen showed just how big of a storm was closing on their position. The boy jerked his head in a nod, settling back in the chair. Designed with the adults of the Justice League in mind, it was a little large for him, and left the kid's feet dangling in the air above the floor. To help remedy the size issue, Robin pulled his knees up to his chin, tucking himself into a ball on the seat. Gripping the handles of the steering wheel a little tighter, the elder of the two tilted the Javelin further in an effort to try and avoid the blizzard.

No such luck. The first gust of icy wind jostled them a few minutes later, and then the turbulence became so bad that Batgirl focused less on keeping them pointed in the right direction and more on just staying in the air.

One particularly violent shove, coupled with large ice chunks suddenly hitting the starboard wing, nearly tore the steering device from her hands. Gritting her teeth, Batgirl hauled it back, ignoring the new proximity alert telling her that the ground was getting awfully close.

Robin was deathly quiet in the seat next to her, and Batgirl suddenly had a horrible feeling that every time the jet jerked and dropped, he was hearing the screams in Haly's Circus again.

Another gust threw them sideways, and downwards, the metal and the thrusters protesting, the alarms blaring, until-

_BAM._

-The Javelin ran into something definitely _not_ picked up by the sensor array.

Uncurling just enough to peer out the window again, Robin's jaw dropped. "Uh, Barbara? Found her."


	14. Episode 3: The Kryptonian Kid, Part 4

"Well, at least Lucius can't blame us for the dents!" Batgirl proclaimed cheerfully, eyeing the pair of hand-shaped indentations on the central fuselage of the Javelin. After catching the jet in its downward tumble, Kara had gently set it upon solid ground, and was at least willing to stick around for the blizzard to move on so she could check on the people inside.

She was surprised, to say the least, that the two humans had been coming out here to look for _her._

"I'm sorry." The girl squeaked, peering up at the imprints as well. Grinning, Robin reached out a hand and softly patted her shoulder.

"It's fine Kara. Batgirl was bound to crash it into something, anyway - at least, thanks to you, the damage is only in a couple of spots." He ignored the death glare shot at him over the alien's head, which Kara was oblivious to.

"I'm still sorry. Everything I do on this planet just makes more trouble-"

"Are you kidding? If you hadn't come up here, it could have taken weeks for us to learn about this thing, let alone actually fly in it!" Robin exclaimed. "Not to mention, getting Batman stuck up on the Watchtower, unable to do more than send us one transmission of instructions, is all kinds of hilarious."

Kara was still frowning, but now her expression had shifted from misery to something approaching confusion. Her gaze went back and forth between the two heroes on either side of her, before finally asking the question dominating her mind. "You... You _both_ work for that Batman?"

"Work _with,_" Batgirl was quick to correct. "And yeah, we do. I know, Robin's costume kind of throws off the 'creature of the night' vibe, but that just helps him be a bigger distraction to the bad guys."

"And let my partners get even closer before we take 'em down." The boy finished with a smirk.

"Oh... And, neither of you has powers?"

"Nope!" They both responded cheerfully, which confused the Kryptonian girl even more.

"We like proving we're just as good at the job as other heroes." Robin explained after a moment. "We have to use our brains a lot to do what they could with superpowers-"

"Or upper body strength in your case, Pixie."

"-But we can still use our skills and weapons to do a lot of good. Especially in Gotham City, where the crooks are insane, but usually just as human as we are." Still a little uncertain, Kara nodded nonetheless.

"Now the question is, what are we gonna do with you?" Batgirl mused.

"W-what?!" The smaller girl asked in alarm.

"Easy, easy, I just meant, what's our next plan of action? We were told to come find you, make sure you didn't get hurt or something, but Batman never actually specified what to do once we caught up to you."

Kara breathed a sigh of relief, before rubbing the back of her head nervously. "But, I-I can't go where there are people. I just, I can't." The two humans exchanged sad glances.

"Look, Kara," Robin said softly. "I know you're kind of scared right now, but things will get better. You just need practice, that's all."

"Yeah- and why was Superman making you stay up here, anyway? He had to grow up on Earth and learn to use his powers just the same, why doesn't he take you to that family farm or wherever for you to stay?" Batgirl suggested, but the alien had started shaking her head halfway through the teen's words.

"Kal _did_ grow up here. His abilities developed one by one as he grew and matured. But I... I'm late. I got here, and everything started happening all at once, and I had such a hard time at first, especially when I kept thinking of Mama and Poppa and I-" Both humans' eyes widened as the girl started breathing faster and faster, her words shifting into a language they assumed was Kryptonian.

"Kara! Hey, Kara, look at me, okay?" Robin grabbed her hands, causing the alien to stiffen, but she listened to his order. "Why don't you just start at the beginning, okay? Tell us everything."

She sniffed, dropping limply to her knees and dragging the boy down with her, but Kara did. She told them everything...

_Kara had been playing underneath her father's desk when the door slammed, and a voice called for her._

"_Here, Poppa!" Scurrying out from the workplace, the child ran straight into her father's arms, laughing with delight as he scooped her up into the air._

"_Ah, and here you are, my little Sol-Flower." He grinned and planted a kiss on her brow. "Are you ready to meet your new cousin, Kara my heart?"_

_She gasped. "Yes! I thought Uncle Jor and Aunt Lara weren't coming until tomorrow?"_

_Zor's face briefly flickered into something akin to apprehension before his smile returned, as strong as before. "Well, they got here a bit early. Now come, after nearly ten months of waiting, I know you're eager to meet the baby."_

_She was, and tiny little Kal-el, when he reached up from the blanket to grasp at her fingers, was the cutest thing Kara had ever seen._

"_Hi, little cousin!" The girl whispered to him. "Don't worry, my name's Kara, and I'm always gonna watch out for you. That's what cousins do for each other!"_

_It wasn't two weeks later than the ground began to tremble, and Kara ran screaming to her father's work room. "Poppa, Poppa, what's happening? Why is everything shaking?"_

"_Kara!" He didn't answer her questions, just scooped her up and raced towards the launch bay, where he and Uncle Jor had spent almost a full three days working on the family's visit. "Don't be afraid, my flower. Everything will be alright, I promise."_

"_But Poppa-" She protested as he activated a small rocket, newly constructed, beneath the opening bay doors. "Where are we going?"_

"_Where you are going, my heart, is a small world, where you will find your baby cousin in a pod like this."_

"_W-what?" Kara stared at him as Zor lowered her into the open rocket, reaching out protesting hands as he went to close the lid. "Poppa, when will you get there?"_

_He paused, eyes closing in pain, before opening them again to try and give her a reassuring look. Kara only saw grief in his gaze. "Not long, Sol-Flower, I hope. You'll just have to watch out for little Kal in the meantime, alright? Your uncle sent him off yesterday... I should have sent you sooner.."_

"_Poppa, please, I'm scared, what is happening?" She begged, holding onto his larger hand with both her shaking ones. "Poppa?"_

"_I love you, Kara, never forget that." With those words, he pressed a kiss to her forehead, then stepped back and sealed the rocket. Kara continued to scream and cry even as she was launched into the sky; especially as she saw entire pieces of their planet breaking away, large green cracks appearing across the surface. Even as the chamber she was in began to go into its cryogenic state, and Kara was pulled into a forced sleep, she sobbed for her father. By the time a chunk of the exploding planet struck the rocket and damaged one of the engines, the girl was locked into her frozen state, unable to emerge from nightmares of seeing her father torn away._

_When the rocket did crash upon the distant planet, and Kara awoke from cryogenic storage, the first thing she did was scream for her lost parent. After several minutes of dejected sobbing, she tried to activate the little ship's scanners, to find the baby that was supposed to be on this new world as well. Her panic increased as multiple devices reported critical failures, including the tracking systems. She'd promised, she'd promised to always look out for her cousin, her father had told her to, she had to find him-_

_So focused upon her task, Kara didn't even notice the flying man until he'd touched down beside her. Then she screamed. Repeatedly._

_By the time Superman had calmed her down, shifting from some other tongue to Kryptonian with a surprised look, Kara was able to beg him to help her find little Kal._

_He'd had a bewildered look on his face as he told her his true name was Kal-el, and that their homeworld, Krypton, had been destroyed a little over twenty five years previously. When Kara had awoken from her faint, she was within an icy fortress, and spent the next several days reconciling with her grief. Then Kal had taken her outside, to feel the rays of the yellow sun, and Kara's new powers emerged. Experiencing them for the first time had been the second most stressful event of her life._

_The first would always haunt her nightmares as the look in her father's eyes as he sent her away, knowing full well they would never see each other again._

Shuddering as she finished, Kara lifted her gaze to a shocking site.

Both Batgirl and Robin had removed their masks, and the girl was looking at eyes as pain-filled as her own. Wordlessly, the human boy wrapped his arms around her in a hug, while the teen reached over to start stroking Kara's hair. The familiar gestures were enough to send her into sobs again, and the alien girl just sat there and cried, grateful for the small comforts the humans were able to grant her.

"I get it, Kara." Robin whispered beside her. "I really do." And he told her of his own story, of living happily in the circus, until a criminal called Tony Zucco came and took it all away. Hearing of the deaths of the Flying Graysons, Kara took some small glow of appreciation that she had not physically seen her father die.

When Robin finished his tale describing how he'd helped Batman take the murderer to justice, Kara reflected on it in silence for several minutes.

"So, does this... Does this mean, I can put on a costume like Kal's, and help protect Earth too?" Robin and Batgirl both blinked, the grinned.

"I don't see why not, if you really want to."

"I-" Kara paused to take a deep breath. "I think I do. And, it would be good practice, right?"

"No doubt about that in the world."


	15. Episode 3: The Kryptonian Kid, Part 5

"Are we done? Finally?" Superman asked anxiously for the tenth time. At least on this occasion, as Batman slammed down the wall panel over the repaired security systems, he was able to give a positive answer.

"It's done-" He didn't even have a chance to continue speaking before the Kryptonian took off down the hallway. Batman growled to himself about alien impatience, before walking after his teammate towards the monitor room. When he walked in, Green Arrow was loudly complaining about much the same thing, and retrieving his hat from where the wind gust of Kent's sudden passage had sent it.

"The scanning and defensive grid are back online, I take it?" The other human grumbled. Batman didn't bother to respond - they all knew Superman was only staying until the systems responsible for identifying friendly versus hostile entities nearing the Watchtower had been fixed.

"What about the long range scanners?" The Dark Knight asked, joining Hawkman at the desktop he was putting back together.

"Functional, though J'onn's going to have to do a fair amount of fine tuning when he gets back up here." The Thanagarian answered. At the moment, their green teammate was still recovering from his brief burns in the medbay, though they all hoped he'd be back on his feet before too much longer. It had been nearly three hours since Kara's meltdown, and their damage-control efforts were nearly done. Green Lantern and Flash were both checking the exterior and interior of the Watchtower for anymore signs of structural stress or damage, but the immediate emergencies had been dealt with.

Just in time for the Man of Steel to take off after his wayward cousin.

"Any word from Batgirl or Robin?" Hawkman leaned over and pulled up the communications display in response to Batman's question.

"Not directly, but a data-point came in a little while ago - something about the Javelin entering a blizzard." He shot an apprehensive glance over his shoulder, but to all outward appearances the Dark Knight had no reaction to the information. Inwardly, though, Batman couldn't help but be concerned - not just about his partners flying an experimental vehicle into the Arctic, but the fact they were chasing down a potentially unstable alien with barely controllable superpowers.

-C-

"Um... Tell me again, how is this supposed to help?" Kara asked skeptically. Robin grinned at her, his gloved hands patting into shape yet another snowball, mixed with a fair amount of ice. There were almost twenty now, lying in a pile before the two kids.

"You want to better be able to control your strength, right?" She nodded. "Then this is the perfect exercise! First, you have to be able to pick up and hold one of these things. And after that comes the throwing - you need to get a feel for how gentle or hard your tosses should be."

"And we're using these "snowballs", because?"

The boy stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. "You'd rather start with something made of hard metal, as opposed to a material that won't do any real damage no matter how hard you throw?"

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess."

"You two almost done ready over there, or not?!" Batgirl yelled at them from her spot at the other end of the little valley they were in. After calming Kara down from her earlier state, the two humans had located this spot for "training", as they called it. The trio had left the Javelin where it was, only about half a mile away, figuring there wouldn't be anyone around to bother it but polar bears and seals.

"Yeah, we're ready!" Robin called back as he handed the first of the snowballs to Kara. The girl looked at it dubiously, causing her companion to chuckle lightly.

"How strong should I start with?" She asked, glancing up at him, then down at the short cliff of ice that made up the other end of the valley.

"All out." Robin replied instantly. As hard as you can throw!"

"Alright." Taking a deep breath, Kara took the cold sphere gently in both hands, leaned back with them reaching over her right shoulder, then swung forward and released the snowball in a perfect pitch.

In less that a blink of the eye, the projectile tore across the couple hundred yards of distance, smashed itself into smithereens against the cliff, and dislodged a few shards of ice with the impact.

Batgirl, being much closer to the cliff than the others, had to duck to avoid some of the flying shrapnel. She let out a low whistle at seeing the damage done by a tiny snowball.

"I'm definitely glad we're starting off with these things."


	16. Episode 3: The Kryptonian Kid, Part 6

_A/N: Much thanks to Abbey, who's one word review was sufficient to kick me into writing this next segment. Continuations has been far too neglected lately, so I'm going to make an effort to finish off this episode and make a sizable dent in the next one by the end of this week. Speaking of future chapters, would anyone care to see my full list of episode titles? Just to gain an idea of where we're heading within Season Six..._

_-Triscribe_

-C-

Every second that it took Superman to fly from the Watchtower to his Fortress of Solitude, he was mentally kicking himself for having taken Kara to meet the League before she was ready. He'd spent nearly a month trying to help his cousin gain control over her newfound abilities, only for all of it to blow up in their faces - literally. Now, he had to find the kid before she did something irreversible. While Superman fully trusted Batgirl and Robin when it came to fighting criminals, tracking down and holding a Kryptonian (especially one as upset as Kara) was another matter entirely.

So it was with great surprise that, as he hurtled over the vast ice sheets, the Man of Steel's super-hearing detected the distinct sound of high-pitched laughter.

Slowing his flight, Superman peered around the white landscape. His eyes spotted a sleek, grey shape against the snow slopes, and then the three blobs of color tucked in the little valley not far beyond it. With curiosity tempered with caution, Superman flew closer, until he could see clearly what was going on.

And then his jaw dropped.

Kara and Robin were ducking around each other, laughing exuberantly and chucking snowballs back and forth while Batgirl looked on. Then, as the hero watched from above, the teenager called out the word "Switch!" With that command, both the kids halted in their mock combat, and each started creating new snowballs from the material around them.

Expecting his cousin's efforts to meet with squashed results, Superman found himself grinning as Kara moved faster and faster, making one perfect snowball after another. By the time Batgirl called the command again, Kara had almost thirty projectiles ready for use, compared the Robin's mere dozen. Evidently noticing this, the boy grabbed a few of his snowballs and tried to duck for cover. He'd barely started running, though, when Kara's first launches plowed into his gut and chest.

With a subdued "Oof!" Robin was knocked back onto the snow. Immediately, Kara had flown to his side, startled into crying out apologies - only for the snowballs in the human kid's hands to be thrown into her face. The two broke down then, grabbing fistfuls of loose snow to dump over the other. Until, that was, a bemused Batgirl unleashed one of her small explosives and blew an entire mound onto the pair.

While Kara broke free and turned around to help haul Robin out, Superman descended to stand next to the red-haired teen.

"I was wondering when you'd come down." She smirked at him, eyes never leaving the kids as they started making a new pile of snowballs.

"Do I even want to know what's happening here?" The Man of Steel asked her.

"Stress relief mixed with strength control."

"Ah." He started to continue, but then Batgirl dropped to the ground, and Superman was hit with a packed ball of snow that had been aimed at her.

"Whoops." Robin was trying valiantly not to laugh while Kara stammered for words.

"You- Kal, I- you weren't- I didn't-"

"It's fine, Kara." He brushed the white flurries from his uniform, a devilish grin of his own appearing. Then, in the blink of an eye, the adult Kryptonian had scooped up a massive pile of compacted snow, flew over, and dropped the entire mass of frozen water onto his stunned cousin's head. "Although I should probably warn you, turnabout's fair play."

Spluttering as she shook away the snow, Kara gaped at him for all of two seconds before bursting into laughter. After that, what had been a two-person fight became a three on one battle, the youngsters doing their utmost best to bury Superman in snowballs.

By the time the dying daylight and dropping temperatures forced them back to the Javelin, everyone was satisfied that Kara had made good progress with controlling her strength. "Feel free to bring her by Gotham sometime," Robin told the grown man. "We can help her practice flying in between skyscrapers."

"Are you sure your boss would approve of that?"

"Of course not, which is exactly why I'm suggesting it!"


	17. Episode 3: The Kryptonian Kid, Part 7

"_Feel free to bring her by Gotham sometime," Robin told the grown man. "We can help her practice flying in between skyscrapers."_

"_Are you sure your boss would approve of that?"_

"_Of course not, which is exactly why I'm suggesting it!"_

And when the pair of Kryptonians showed up a week later thanks to that invitation, Bruce felt like banging his head against the stone wall of the Bat Cave.

Repeatedly.

Fortunately for all involved, Clark and Kara came by right at dusk, approaching as normal human beings, and had been perfectly prepared to take the flight practice elsewhere if the grown Bat had pushed for it. After a brief discussion, it was decided that the initial bout of aerial acrobatics could be done in the open lands further south of Gotham, where there weren't so many potential obstacles to start with (nor any amazed amatuer photographers). The first lesson went so well, with Kara flying under her own power, Robin and Batgirl using their jetpacks, and the adults watching from the ground below, that arrangements were made to have them a further four times that month. And as the young Kryptonian made progress on controlling and restraining her other abilities, she made further visits to Wayne Manor, dubbed by Dick to be "lessons on human culture and how to blend within it," which Bruce gradually became accustomed to. To be fair, he could tolerate Kara' presence rather easily, and he often didn't mind her extended stays.

It was only when Clark accompanied her and irritated him that Bruce wanted to cut the visits short.

It was in the second week of January, almost three months exactly since Kara had crashed onto the planet, that Supergirl made her debut in Metropolis. "I am most heartened to see the young miss took my advice for her uniform." Alfred mentioned that evening as his three charges prepared to depart for their patrol, the news articles still prominent on the main computer screen.

"What advice was that, Alf?" Robin asked, donning his mask.

"To select shorts instead of a skirt, and forego a cape in favor of added decoration upon the backside of her shirt."

"What's wrong with capes?" Batgirl demanded. "And skirts, for that matter."

"While the latter is less of an issue when one wears leggings as well, I admit, the former tends to present difficulties when one is rescuing jet-engine planes from crashing."

Both the younger crime-fighters glanced at each other. "Fair point." Robin admitted, and Batgirl nodded as well. "So, both Green Arrow and Superman have younger partners now - who do you think will be next?"

"Hopefully no one, at least for a while." Batman grumbled. "I'd hate to think of what other damages could be wracked up alongside a teen archer and growing Kryptonian."

It was less than a week later he found himself recalling those words, while having a strained conversation with Flash concerning a thirteen year old redhead...


	18. Author's Interlude 3

Considering how long it's been since I updated _any_ of my stories, perhaps I shouldn't feel quite so guilty about this one in particular, but I do. It has such a great arrangement of plots and characters to introduce, and I've completely dropped the ball.

Sorry.

Anywho, I'm gonna try to get back into regular updates for Continuations, even if my other fics continue to have sporadic updates. Everybody needs some stability in their lives, right? Right. Well, with Kara's intro done (hope you all enjoyed the ending, by the way), we are three episodes down, only eighteen more to go! Yeah, you read that right. Season 6 has 21 episodes in total, and there's a possibility I might come up with some stuff for a Season 7, though that's likely a looong ways off, and only if I can't tie off all my subplots in a satisfactory manner.

Here's the official list, just to give you guys a bit of a teaser:

1 - A Speedy Shadow - Complete

2 - Double Sided - Complete

3 - The Kryptonian Kid - Complete

4 - Hyperactive - Meet the new speedster on the block.

5 - Scared Stiff - There's someone new in Gotham's criminal underground, someone with a taste for inflicting terror...

6 - Hawkling, Part 1 - The Intergalactic Extravaganza has swung into orbit, seeking to press-gang new gladiators into its fighting ring - by any means necessary.

7 - Hawkling, Part 2 - Trapped aboard the space cruiser of the Intergalactic Extravaganza, both the Leaguers and their Partners have to escape, which is easier said than done when half the youngsters are still recovering from the injuries of their capture and the adults are fighting for their lives.

8 - Trio of Troublemakers - What do three young superheroes do when they're bored? Visit each other's cities and cause havoc, that's what!

9 - Convention - Certain members of the Justice League have been asked to sit in on some discussion panels at a gathering of the planet's top contributors to space travel, leaving the others to handle security for the convention - easier said than done...

10 - Little Clue - Arthur Brown the Cluemaster is back, with a plan to catch out Gotham's dark defenders, one involving his four year old in a most devious manner.

11 - Dating Advice - When Speedy and Hawkling want to get away from their respective mentors for a night spent in each other's company, they decide the smartest thing to do is go to Batgirl for help. Isn't it?

12 - Brawl - A new ring of underground fighters have been operating in Star City, and when Green Arrow tries to infiltrate it, he meets the woman of his dreams - though of course, she couldn't be less interested.

13 - Two Faced - Some thugs get wind of the fact that Harvey Dent's been working for the Bat, and things don't turn out well. To put it mildly.

14 - Scattered - In an effort to avoid the damages of what happened the last time the three youngest Partners were left to their own devices, Speedy gets put on baby-sitting duty. His job gets remarkably harder, however, when a time traveling nut-case manages to scatter him and the kids across history.

15 - Gotta Save the Grown-Downs, Part 1 - Why'd that crazy magician have to turn the Justice League into little kids? Robin doesn't know. But he's going to enjoy having a six year old Batman around while it lasts.

16 - Gotta Save the Grow-Downs, Part 2 - The best way to reverse one sorcerer's spell is apparently to enlist the help of another magician, which is exactly what Batgirl tries to do.

17 - Hidden in Plain Sight, Part 1 - Atlantis and Themiscyra are about to go to war, and the members of the Justice League, and their partners, attempt to stop it.

18 - Hidden in Plain Sight, Part 2 - Separated into groups to try and work out the conflict on both sides, no one seems to be having much luck, until Robin and his new undersea friend manage to stumble onto a treacherous conspiracy.

19 - Hidden in Plain Sight, Part 3 - Can disaster be averted?!

20 - Incoming - The return of Detective Ellen Yin, and the long-awaited arrival of Ra's al Ghul.

21 - Common Cause - Finally stepping out of the shadows, Vandal Savage is prepared to unite what villains he can in the name of destroying the Justice League, and their meddling kids, too.

_And there we have it!_ Thoughts, comments, concerns? Eager to see who the upcoming hero appearances are going to be? Can't wait for more classic villains to appear? Well, you'll just have to hang around for the updates, then. So long for now,

-Triscribe


	19. Episode 4: Hyperactive, Part 1

Bruce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in an exasperated gesture. "Okay, let's run through it one more time... You've had custody of him for how long?"

"Six years, since the- the abuse was discovered." Barry answered quickly, only stumbling a little on the distasteful word.

"And in that time, you've made sure to keep the suits and your old notes well away from him."

"Either on my person or tucked away in the master bedroom closet."

"Then how on Earth did he get ahold of them _now?"_

"Well, that's the funny thing..." A sheepish look briefly overtook the man's anxiety. "Apparently Iris, my wife, was moving stuff up to the attic a few weeks ago while I was at work, and asked Wally to give her a hand. Somewhere along the way, the box with my initial experiment recorded in it was sent up too, and the kid got a glimpse of it. Since then, he's been gathering up the stuff to try and repeat it, which I didn't know about until _after _he'd set up a lightning rod in his room during the storm a few nights ago, and got himself blasted with all the same chemicals..."

"And now your thirteen year old nephew has super speed." Batman finished blandly.

"Yep."

"...Wonderful."

The two of them were currently seated and standing, respectively, by the main computer in the Bat Cave. Bruce was in uniform, though with the cowl down, having not gone to bed yet. His fellow Leaguer was in civilian clothes, having run over from Central City in order to talk for an hour or so before he had to report to work. It was just after six a.m. and the Dark Knight was seriously considering a third cup of coffee to hold back the threat of an impending headache.

"That's, um... That's not all." The scarlet speedster cringed slightly in the face of Bruce's irritated scowl, but continued anyway. "He wants to be a hero, like me. Put together his own costume already, and everything. Insists that he can be my partner, and that even if I say no he'll still go out to fight-"

"Barry."

"I know, I know, giving in to his threat is a bad idea, but the kid really wants to help, Bats, and the truth is, with how crafty some of the Rogues back home are getting, I really could use some back-up now and then-"

"Then tell him he needs to have proper control of his powers first!" Bruce growled, close to losing his patience and resorting kicking the man out of his home. "Supergirl didn't start helping the Boy Scout in Metropolis until recently, _after_ both he and I had determined she posed little to no threat of accidentally killing someone. Your nephew will have to have a similar training period, maybe not as long, but certainly until he's operating at your standards."

"That's the thing, Bats - I have no idea what work needs to be done with him. I was fully grown when I got my speed, and even in the last couple days I've seen that his works differently, not to mention all the potential changes as he ages-"

Bruce gave up on his faint hopes of keeping the looming headache at bay.

Sighing in reluctant admittance that he needed that third round of coffee after all, the Dark Knight turned his massive chair to face the computer console, activating the transmitter that would connect him to Alfred.

"Yes, sir?" The dry British accent came through just a few moments later, and Bruce requested another mug of the caffeinated drink.

"And anything you can whip up quickly for Flash." He added at the end, thinking that if the man got something to eat, he might be a little calmer.

"Ah, of course sir, though that might take a while longer, accustomed as I am to only providing sustenance for one speedster at a time, rather than two."

Bruce took a moment to absorb that, turning to glare at a nervously grinning Flash. "Two?" His tone was so cold as to put Mr. Freeze to shame.

"Yes, sir. Master Richard has been most entertained this morning by his new companion, a mister Wallace West."

"Allen..."

If his nephew weren't still upstairs in the Manor, and an easy scapegoat for the ticked off Bat, Barry would have flew then and there.

-C-

"WAAAAAHH-HOOOOOO!" A pair of voices yelled at their highest volume, prompting Alfred to grit his teeth slightly. It was bad enough when Master Richard chose to slide down the banister, but at least he had a tendency to do so quietly. Coupled with this slightly older boy, however... One might be tempted to go and retrieve earplugs.

"Master Richard, Mister West, would you kindly refrain from attempting to deafen my eardrums?" The butler asked dryly as the lads jumped clear of the stairs on what he believed to be their seventh slide down.

"Heh, sorry Alfred." Dick grinned, not abashed in the slightest. Wally was still giggling and unable to formulate a response.

"Perhaps, as an alternative, the two of you might consider a tour of the game and movie collection in the ground floor sitting room?"

"Aw, but then we might see something we like and want to get started playing except we wouldn't be able to 'cause Uncle Barry and Batman might finish talking and then I'd have to leave-"

"Wally." The redhead paused in his high speed babble and looked to the shorter boy. "You can always borrow something if you want to, or just come back after school sometime and we can play together." Dick suggested. Green eyes lit up in excitement, and Wally started nodding vigorously, before he grasped Dick's hand and started off towards the room he'd already seen on the earlier tour around the Manor.

"And won't Master Bruce be quite ecstatic about that development." Alfred murmured to himself.


	20. Episode 4: Hyperactive, Part 2

When Barbara first heard the news, she burst out laughing.

"I totally called it!" She cheered. "I knew there was going to be another teen partner coming along soon. So, what's this kid's name and when's he putting on a uniform?"

Sighing, Bruce explained about Flash's visit, his nephew, and the tentative training regime the three of them had put together. If Wally was able to maintain a minimum of control over his speed for the next two weeks, still attending his school and working through Barry's exercises, they he'd be allowed to don his own Kid Flash costume and start patrolling Central City with his uncle. "My biggest concern at the moment is how quickly he and Dick have become friends."

Barbara snorted, setting the communicator on her dorm room desk as she started pulling out her notes for a study session. "Why does that not surprise me. But, seriously Bruce, wasn't Alfred saying something to you just the other day about the Pixie needing more friends his own age?"

"His getting on better terms with the kids at his school-"

"Which is a good thing, I agree, especially considering how long it took for them to warm up him. But how many of those students do you think would be trustworthy enough to learn about Dick being a part-time superhero? He'd never going to be able to be on completely even terms with any of them, Bruce, and you know it."

"...I see your point."

"Of course you do." The almost-nineteen year old smirked. "If this Wally is getting on your nerves by coming to the mansion, then maybe you should let Dick visit him in Central from time to time. Or better, yet, send 'em both to see Kara in Metropolis. I know you love coming up with ways to bug Clark..." She trailed off enticingly, and could almost hear the smirk in Bruce's voice when he responded.

"I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion, Barbara."

"No prob. Now shoo, I've got a Trigonometry test coming up this week and want to be ready for it."

-C-

The two weeks he had to spend practicing control of his powers were, in Wally's opinion, among the most boring of his entire life. He had to do everything he did before, except in what felt like slow motion. And his dreams of fighting the Rogues alongside his uncle instead became a reality of daily tests on an old abandoned airfield owned by Wayne Enterprises.

It. Was. Awful.

The one upside was that he got to visit Dick in Gotham a couple of times, and talk on the phone a lot. At first, Wally had been unable to equate his new best friend with the superhero Robin, even with the acrobatic tricks he showed off, but that was before the kid snuck him down into the Batcave for a few minutes while his foster dad was out.

Finally, the day of truth came, and Wally West put on his brand new yellow and red Kid Flash uniform, which his Aunt Iris had designed and put together. It was a little weird to move in at first, but then he and Uncle Barry started running - _really_ running - around the streets of Central, and Wally became too focused on his excitement to care. They stopped a bank robbery, helped rescue people from an apartment building on fire, and even prevented a couple of car crashes from being worse than fender benders. Wally thought it was the best day of his life.

Then a policeman at the last car accident told them Captain Boomerang had been spotted making trouble downtown, and Flash told his nephew to go home.

"He what?" Dick asked, startled.

"Told me to head home! I tried to argue with him, but Uncle B said I wasn't ready to go up against one of the Rogues yet, even after all the work I've been doing." Wally sighed, flopping onto his bed. "I'm not going to get to go patrol again until tomorrow, so now I'm just waiting for him and Aunt Iris to come back."

"That stinks, dude. Do you want to come over and go a few rounds on the game system with me while you wait?"

"Sure! And with my speed, I can be in Gotham in, like, five minutes. Six tops." Wally boasted proudly. Shaking his head with a chuckle, Dick could picture his friend's chest puffing out like a rooster's.

"Alright then, but I'm still in the process of leaving school. Wait about fifteen minutes before coming to the mansion-" A teasing tone slipped into his words at this point, "If you think you can last that long without spontaneously exploding or something."

Wally's groan was long and pronounced, even over the phone. "Du-ude," he whined. "That's practically forever to a speedster!"

That caused Dick to laugh in earnest. "I don't know how you manage to get through the day-" Sudden squealing of tires in front of his school's gates interrupted the rest of the boy's words, as Dick's attention was drawn to a pair of large green and purple vans pulling up directly in front of the entrance. "Uh-oh." The phrase was out of his mouth even more the armed goons appeared.


	21. Episode 4: Hyperactive, Part 3

"_Uh-oh."_ Hearing the worry in his friend's voice, Wally was instantly on edge. Gotham was not a good town to be in when it came to saying uh-oh.

"Dick? What's wrong?" Straining his ears, the speedster could just make out startled shouts and high pitched screaming over the phone. "What's happening?"

"Afraid I'm gonna have to let you go, Wall-"

"You! Drop the phone!" Wally very distinctly heard a man yell, followed by a burst of machine gun fire, and then, chilling silence. After a moment the dial tone sounded, but by then the thirteen year old was up and out the door. He'd already been in his Kid Flash costume, so there was nothing to stop him from running full out for Gotham. The brief image of his aunt and uncle flashed through the teen's mind, but as neither one would be home for another hour at the least, he figured letting them know what was up could wait until _after _he'd rescued his friend.

True to his earlier boast, KF made it to the foreboding city's outer limits in just over five minutes; however, being unfamiliar with the layout, it took him two more of crossing back and forth across the grid of streets to locate Dick's school.

When he finally found it, the speedster came to a halt in the shadow of the entry gates to assess the situation. He didn't like what he saw.

People in weird green overcoats and goggles were forcing students and staff alike to line up around the courtyard's outer wall. Occasionally, one would fire another burst of shots into the air, causing a fair amount of the civilians to cry out in alarm and panic.

Well, that _had_ to come to a stop.

Charging out onto the grounds, Kid Flash was a red and yellow blur as he criss-crossed the courtyard, snatching and ripping away every gun he could. Finally, the teen skidded to a stop beside the main building's entrance, dropping the weapons in a heap onto the ground. The assorted goons and civilians stared at him in shock.

Then, a scrawny, dark haired kid cheered from his place beside the wall. "You morons are in for it now!" He yelled, prompting similar jeers from those around him, weakening the goons' collective confidence by the second.

"This would be the part where you run." KF told them outright, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Almost in sync, the goons turned and bolted for their vans, fleeing without a backward glance.

Jerking slightly at the noise of a throat being cleared behind him, Kid Flash turned to see a nervous man in a stern suit approaching him. Several times, the balding man attempted to form some sort of sentence, but couldn't quite seem to make his mark, so KF decided to take pity on him.

"Hi, the name's Kid Flash I'm from Central City just passing through to say hi to a friend of mine so-don't-mindmebye!" And with that, he was streaking away from the crowded courtyard, doubling back around the block so that he could pause and catch his breath in the alley behind the walled off campus.

Not three minutes later, a familiar figure now dressed in tights and a cape dropped to the ground beside him. "Dude! Awesome timing!"

"Gah!" KF's breathing stalled for a panicked moment. "Rob! Don't sneak up on me like that!" He admonished the smaller boy. The bird just grinned at him, before motioning towards an alley entrance perpendicular to the one they were currently in. "So, who were those guys anyway?"

"Just Riddler's hired meat. Usually they do tech jobs, so I'm kind of surprised he tried to have them do a snatch and grab from such a public place - definitely _not_ his usual still or anything resembling their training Those guys probably couldn't have pulled off a professional hostage situation if one came up and grabbed them in a bear hug."

"...You have weird analogies, dude."

"Yeah, I know. I've heard weirder in the circus, though." The two ended up chatting a bit about some of the stranger aspects of growing up in a circus as they moved through Gotham's alleys and side streets. In the heart of winter, sunset wasn't too far off, and the city's large buildings cast most of the ground level into shadow. As the pair of young crimefighters began leaving the urban sprawl in the direction of the docks, Kid Flash finally thought to ask where they were going.

In answer, Robin held up a little handheld gizmo. "I slipped a tracker on the same goon who took and broke my phone, so now we're following it to Riddler's lair."

"Ooh, smart. Are we gonna burst and and stop their evil plans when we get there?"

"Um, I was actually thinking we'd call in the Commissioner and his guys. Batman's stuck in a meeting downtown in civilian ID, and Batgirl's the same, still in class at the college."

"What! But Rob, we could totally take on these crooks! Didn't you see how easy it was for me to take all their guns and things back there? You and I've got this in the bag."

"Well..."

"Come on, you said yourself it's just the Riddler. What's the worst that could happen?"


	22. Episode 4: Hyperactive, Part 4

"The next time you say 'what's the worst that could happen'," Robin hissed to his cringing friend. "Remind me to slap you."

The two of them were crouched behind a stack of crates in a dockside warehouse, with a couple dozen of Riddler's goons searching for them. There were no convenient windows to slip out of, both doors were heavily guarded, and there was a massive device powering up in the center of the building for some nefarious purpose. When the boys arrived at the warehouse, Robin's first instinct was to inspect the machine and try to figure out both what it was and how to shut if off.

Kid Flash's first instinct was to run in among the goons and try a repeat of what he'd done at the school. Sadly, Riddler had already been informed of the sorry event, and was ready for him. An electronic grid lit up on the floor, and Robin had barely swooped down and pulled KF off the thing before the thirteen year old was electrocuted.

"I'm sorry." He apologized for what had to be the hundredth time. "I didn't think there'd be-"

"A trap? Dude, that's practically the Riddler's standard tactic. Look, KF, I might have agreed we could handle this guy, but he's still one of _my _villains - if we'd been in Central taking down one of the Rogues, I'd be listening to your advice. Here, you need to listen to mine - which also means _waiting_ for mine. Okay?"

"...Okay. So, what now?"

Finally, Robin's scowl morphed into a sly grin. "We start messing with these guys' heads."

-C-

Riddler was ready to start whacking his henchmen over the head with his staff. "How long does it take you fools to find a pair of pre-adolescent boys? At this rate, they'll still be here when my electro-disrupter begins to go off!"

"We've narrowed down the search radius, sir, it shouldn't be much longer befo- _oof!"_ A yellow blur ran past, knocking the woman down as it disappeared into the shadows on the opposite side of the warehouse. Two more of the goons tried to take aim and fire at the speedster, only for each to have a birdarang become embedded in their weapons and explode.

Barring his teeth in frustration, Riddler called everyone back from the far reaches of the building - and hissed in dismay when only about half the number there should have been appeared. The blur appeared a couple more times, crisscrossing the floor too rapidly to be seen and dispatching another one or two of the goons each time. It was bad enough the metahuman newcomer had foiled his idea to hide hostages across the city to distract the police force and the Batman, but ruining the master plan was unacceptable!

"Enough of this!" He snapped, hurrying to the side of his machine and snatching up one of his smaller prototypes for the device. It had been built large scale to target and disable the electronics in any airborne craft, which would not only enable Riddler to hold Gotham's skies hostage, but also bring down a soon to be arriving plane carrying some advanced machinery he wanted to get his hands on.

The small scale version, though, ought to do just fine when bringing down the Bird brat and his fleet footed friend. Taking aim at the rafters further down the warehouse, from the shadows of which he'd just seen some more of the infernal birdarangs launched, Riddler activated the handheld weapon and opened fire.

Jumping from one support beam to another, Robin only had a couple seconds of warning before a crackling beam of green energy lanced through the rafter he'd just vacated. The vibrations caused by the blast shook the entire building, not actually damaging anything but causing Robin to lose his grip on the rusty metal beam and start to fall. Stifling the panic that leapt into his throat, the boy twisted mid air, bringing out his grappling gun to fire a line that would halt his descent.

Before he could hit the launch button, though, Robin found himself caught in a whirlwind. Looking down, he could see the blur made by Kid Flash running in a tight circle directly below him, generating the rapid winds supporting his form. As Rob continued to watch, though, another beam of the green energy directly collided with his friend, knocking him away and ending the rotating winds that were keeping the Gotham Bird aloft.

This time, he was ready for the fall.

Robin fired his grapple, deliberately aiming so that as he swung down and across the room, he plowed straight into Riddler, who was still focusing on KF. Thrown from the strength of the impact, Riddler crashed back into his massive machine, the prototype in his hand discharging its energy into the larger device.

The resulting explosion blew everyone off of their feet.

Groaning as he rolled upright again, Robin took a moment to survey his handiwork before going to find KF. Riddler was a little singed, unconscious but still breathing. Most of his henchmen had already been taken down and remained in place; those that were able to get up did so and took off, not paying the slightest attention to the colorful boys in their midst.

Kid Flash was trying and failing to stand, looking extremely tired after the beam had hit him. "Are you okay?" Robin asked in concern, offering his friend a hand up.

Taking it gratefully, the slightly taller boy sagged on his feet. "Sort of... I'm not, not hurt, but that thing took away, my speed, and I'm having a, a hard time seeing straight right now..."

Robin blinked as KF started to unintentionally lean to one side. Sighing, he grabbed the redhead's arm and pulled it across his shoulders. "Alright then, first thing's first - getting you out of here and calling for someone to come clean this mess up."

They had just gotten outside of the warehouse's main entrance when a glowering figure landed in front of the startled boys, causing Robin to gulp. The Bat glare, he was used to and wasn't phased by all that much any more.

To have _Superman _glare at you, while perhaps not as intimidating as Batman, was on the same level of scary by the simple fact that one rarely saw him with that expression at all. Fortunately, Robin knew that they couldn't be in _too_ much trouble, because Kara was floating behind her older cousin and trying not to laugh.

"Having fun, boys?" Superman arched an eyebrow at them.

"Well... Up until Riddler brought out his weird laser thingy..." Kid Flash mumbled, hearing the voice but not seeing who it belonged to, since his eyes were closed as he leaned on Robin.

"Er, KF, you might want to wake up a little." At the Kryptonians' dual questioning looks, the young crimefighter sighed and explained about the weapon Riddler had used to knock him down from the rafters and shoot the speedster. "And now he's really tired, so I think we better get him out of here before any cops or press show up."

"S'okay, my aunt's a reporter."

Robin and Kara both snickered a little, and even Superman's stern expression softened as he took in the redhead's exhausted ramblings. "Well then, why don't we fly you boys back to the Manor?"

"Fly...?" Finally, KF's eyes flickered open, and he looked up at their audience. Tired as he was, it took a few seconds for him to recognize the double S-shields, and then the reaction was priceless. "HOLY-! Rob, that's Superman! And Supergirl! THE Superman and Supergirl!"

"Way to be observant, dude."


	23. Episode 4: Hyperactive, Part 5

Within a couple of days, Wally was back to full strength, and continuing his official patrols at Flash's side. After being properly introduced to Kara, Roy, Babs, and the rest of the League, the first thing out of the redhead's mouth was: "So, when do we have a few rounds of super-powered baseball or something?"

Dick promptly swatted him, even as the younger boy laughed. "For your information, we don't do things quite _that_ corny."

"No," Kara grinned. "We have snowball fights at the North Pole."

"...Seriously?! That's awesome!"

"I think we may need to manufacture another reason for Batman to let us borrow the Javelin. Barbara?"

"Oh, I'm totally in. It was great to watch you get your butt whupped by a girl an inch shorter than you."

"Roy?"

"I'm not going to have anything to do with sabotaging the grown ups." The teen archer crossed his arms, before smirking. "But if your guys actually manage to secure transportation, I'm in."

"Alright! Then it'll be me versus all of you guys for the best snowball fight ever!"

"You sure about that, Wally?"

"Of course I am. Superspeed, remember? I could beat you all with my one hand tied behind my back!"

"Well then, we'll just have to test that theory, won't we?" Seeing Barbara's evil grin, Wally felt some of his confidence wavering.

"On second thought... Dick, you wanna help me cream these guys?"


	24. Author's Interlude 4

/slumps over at her computer desk with a quiet groan

I am a tired Triscribe. I am a tired Triscribe who's wondering why on Earth she has to come up with so many new character and plot ideas on a daily basis when there are so many other things already in the List waiting to be written.

...Ahem.

So, Wally is officially one of the Partners! Any bets on who's going to win that snowball fight? I might just have to write that up as a bonus scene somewhere... In my non-existent free time, that is.

Next episode: Gotham gains a new villain, one with an even greater drive than the Batman's to instill fear in people's hearts. First person to leave a review with the correct guess of who it is gets a sneak peak at the first chapter!

-Triscribe


	25. Episode 5: Scared Stiff, Part 1

Frowning, Bruce went over the recording of the police interrogation once more. The thief that Commissioner Gordon's men had caught was notorious for escaping arrest time and again. But now, not only had he turned himself in at police headquarters, but the man had babbled nonstop for almost an hour and a half about his crimes and scores.

This in itself wasn't entirely unusual - there were plenty of small time crooks now in prison who'd been terrified by the Batman into confessing their crimes, sometimes in police custody, though more often when he was dangling them from a skyscraper with a recorder close at hand.

But this man had never been targeted by the Bat.

Oh, he'd been on Bruce's list of crooks to go after whenever he had the free time (which had been extremely limited as of late, what with solidifying Wayne Enterprises' new partnership with Queen International, keeping the League running and the growing assortment of young partners out of trouble). It would have been nice to see that someone else was helping with his workload at tad, were it not for the way the thief spilled his guts like there was a gun being held to the back of his head. The fear, bordering on insane terror, that defined his features was... disconcerting.

Perhaps he'd have to do some digging on where the crook had been hiding lately-

"Ahem." Wincing at Alfred's disapproving expression, Bruce turned off the computer's screens and stood. Dick's twelfth birthday was coming up soon, and the aging butler was adamant that Bruce go and find something for his foster son, rather than merely ordering a gift online as he'd planned.

It always seemed quite ridiculous whenever some ignorant person assumed Alfred was merely a servant of the Wayne household - more often than not, it was the middle aged man who acted in charge and delivered the orders, rather than the other way around.

-C-

"_When are you guys gonna have the party?"_ Holding the phone up with his shoulder, Dick concentrated on putting the final touches onto his school project.

"Saturday after next. Bruce wants to make sure he has time to get all of the big name loonies secured in Arkham so none of them can interrupt."

"_Cool. Though, since all of the League members are coming, I think it would be kind of stupid for some crook to try and crash it!"_

"Well, yeah, but remember the secret identities, Wally."

"_Yeah, yeah, I know."_

"Suuure you do. So, does that mean you and your aunt and uncle can come? I'm looking forward to meeting Iris." The boy smiled as he set down the marker he'd been meticulously coloring his project with. It was a detailed poster of the entire Justice League, complete with their partners, for his presentation next week on modern heroes. Dick's artistic skills left a lot to be desired, but he'd worked hard on this - especially considering that at one point he'd snuck down into the Cave and printed off profile pictures of all the heroes from Bruce's files to make sure he got everything accurate.

"_Of course we're coming! Already got a birthday present and everything. But don't try and get me to tell, 'cause I want it to be a surprise."_ Hearing the determination in his friend's voice, Dick promised he wouldn't attempt to trick the young speedster into revealing the incoming gift.

Besides, Dick liked surprises. If he really wanted to know what it was, he could probably hack into Mr. and Mrs. Allen's credit card records and see what their recent purchases were (he knew for a fact Wally was pretty much incapable of saving money, even before getting his attention span further shortened by the super speed).

"_Whoops. Hey Dick, I've got to go - Uncle Barry's gonna get off of work in a few minutes, and I still need to finish my chores before he gets home."_

"Alright, bye Wally."

"_Bye!"_

-C-

"I am most impressed, Master Richard." Alfred complimenting him, looking over the finished poster. "Your rendering of these heroes is impeccable."

"Ah, thanks Alfie." Dick's cheeks flamed red at the Englishman's praise. "I know it's not that good, and there's still some things I got wrong, but I don't think most of my classmates know the difference between Hawkman's mace and GA's bow anyway, so..."

"Nonsense. They would have to be highly acclaimed art critics to find fault with this masterpiece. Once your school project is graded and returned to your possession, may I suggest finding a place of pride for this piece in the upper hallway?"

"Really? Sure! Thanks, Alfred!" Despite still blushing deeply, Dick was also smiling. His head snapped around at the sound of the study door opening, and then the boy was calling Bruce over to see the poster as well. Alfred shot him a warning glance as the man approached, which Bruce correctly took to mean he had better be appreciative of the piece.

Prepared for some of the interestingly colored blobs that Dick usually produced when he set pencil to paper, he was pleasantly surprised to see a fairly well-done image of the League and younger crimefighters. The facial features were, as to be expected, nearly unrecognizable from the real people (though he did spot the matching grins on Robin and Kid Flash's faces, as well as the carefully done scowl on the rendition of Batman), but the costumes had been done with an incredible attention to detail. The fletching visible over Green Arrow and Speedy's shoulders, as well as the utility belts on the trio of Gotham heroes, and especially the feathers on Hawkman's wings were all done very meticulously.

"This is some of your best work yet, Dick." He could honestly say, before a sneaking suspicion found its way into his mind. "Tell me, did you do all this from memory of did you use a reference?" The boy's sheepish expression was all too telling.

"Regardless, I have already determined a suitable resting place for this masterpiece on the second story," Alfred shot him a warning glance. "After Master Dick has received it back from his teacher, of course."

"Teacher? Wait, this is for your class project?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Dick, don't you think it's a bad idea to have such a detailed image of the League for that? I mean, you've done a great job with this - but it might present an extra clue for someone to connect enough dots to determine our secret identities."

Opening his mouth to protest, Dick stalled as he realized Bruce was right. "I... I guess I can do something else then..."

"I don't want to rain on your parade, but it might be safest." Taking in his foster son's crestfallen expression, Bruce sighed. "Tell you what. Instead of redoing another picture of the League, I'll help get you some snapshots of Commissioner Gordon, and you can make a picture of one of my conversations with him. Include lots of shadows, you won't even need to bother putting in details."

"...Okay." The kid still sounded upset, so Bruce resolved to find another way of making it up to him. He knew Dick had been working on this project for a while now, and hated that he'd had to put down the boy's efforts.

It was also rather obvious Alfred was annoyed at him as well. Bruce figured he'd have to resign himself to the fact that the butler wouldn't be as helpful as he usually was for a while after this.


	26. Episode 5: Scared Stiff, Part 2

Bruce was just suiting up as Batman that evening when a call came over the Batwave, from his recently gained spy among Gotham's criminal element.

"What is it, Dent?" He asked, answering.

"Got a bit of news for ya, Batman. Y'heard about that Malsen fella that turned himself into the cops?" Considering that was the very man who he'd been intending to investigate this night, Bruce once again internally commended himself on enlisting Harvey Dent's help as an inside man.

"I have. What do you know?"

"That he's one of the guys who'd been working for some new creep in the basement of Bollard's, off 29th street."

"New creep?"

"Yeah, and that's the _polite _way of saying it. He showed up about two weeks ago, wanting the standard night-by-night rent. Except, since he moved in, the regular customers have been gettin' more and more scarce. Even the staff's really jittery around the guy, and nobody wants to go downstairs anymore. Business has really tanked; I mean, all the other migrant guys like me have taken off, but I'm still hanging around 'cause I figured you'd wanna know..."

"Thanks, Dent. I'll look into it tonight."

"Then in that case, I'll make sure to be workin' someplace else. Good luck to you and yours, Bats." The card man closed off his end of the communication, leaving Batman to wonder what the connection was between the terrified crook and this new figure. He was still pondering it when Alfred came down, decidedly stiffer than usual.

"Is Dick almost ready, Alfr-"

"The young master has decided not to go out tonight, sir. He feels it would be better to begin work on his new project." Sighing, Batman started to ask his next question, but was again beaten to the punch. "I have already called Miss Gordon to alert her of the circumstances, and have asked her to accompany you instead."

"...Did you ask her to act annoyed with me as well?"

"I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing, sir. Though, after being informed of this afternoon's disappointing affair, it will not be an act on her part."

Sometimes, Batman really felt like banging his head against the wall.

-C-

It was quite a change, for Batgirl to be even more silent than her mentor. The pair were perched on a rooftop across from their target of Bollard's, waiting until the establishment was as near to empty as it could be before they moved in. The whole night, every time Batman gave her information or instructions, Batgirl had merely nodded in affirmation, stony faced. There was a time Batman would have found the quiet a welcome change, but now it just served as a constant reminder of what he'd had to tell Dick that afternoon, and made the man feel worse than before.

Most of the time, he felt that he made a decent guardian for the boy, but there were still moments he had no clue of what to do - and it was on those occasions he often managed to screw up pretty spectacularly. This was one of them, apparently, despite his rationalizing it as necessary to protect his little family. Maintaining their secret identities was always a priority of the Batman, made all the more important after the Wrath and Scorn incident, which still featured prominently in his occasional nightmares.

Down below, another pair of bar's customers departed in a drunken stagger, leaving the place as empty as it had been all night. Time for the Bats to strike.

Standing, the two of them aimed their grappling lines and prepared to do just that. The first that the people inside the bar realized of the impending trouble was when a pair of dark figures burst through their front door, tossing a few gas canisters that filled the front room with a choking fog. As per the plan, Batgirl stuck around, using a few well-placed hits to encourage everyone to leave while her mentor hurried on to the back room - and the trapdoor that lead to the basement where their mystery figure was waiting.

Once clear of the gas cloud, Batman removed his filter mask and set to cutting through the hinges of the trapdoor, which could be locked from either side. Succeeding and hauling the entire door out of the frame, he dropped down through the narrow opening into the dark basement. His landing caused a fair amount of dust to billow up from the floor, setting the Dark Knight to coughing slightly.

"Ah, and the Batman arrives." A high pitched voice grated from somewhere behind him. Activating the infrared lenses in his cowl, Batman turned to seek out the voice's owner. He was just able to make out a thin figure at the far wall, before the mystery man vanished from few. Cursing as he realized there must be a tunnel entrance, the crimefighter hurried forward searching for a hidden catch or similar device to open the wall.

"Boss?" Batgirl had finished upstairs, and was perched upon the ladder as she searched for him.

"Over here." He called, deactivating the lenses. "Can you find a light switch over there?" A few moments later, a couple of light bulbs flickered to life, allowing him to find a pedal on the floor. Stepping on it as his partner gingerly made her way over, the hidden door slid open, revealing a crudely made passage that extended for a few yards before it emerged into the sewer system.

"Is it just me, or do we wind up in here an awful lot?" Batgirl murmured as they entered the foul-smelling domain, temporarily forgetting her annoyed silence. Batman was about to answer when a flicker of motion around the nearest corner caught hit eye.

Within moments, both he and Batgirl had taken off running after the figure, who, thanks to the intermittent light, they were able to see was dressed in a strange patchwork of ragged brown leather and bundles of... straw?

Ignoring the bizarre outfit, Batman pulled out one of his batarangs, throwing it towards the man with expert aim. In a moment of uncanny skill, their target contorted himself mid-stride, allowing the weapon to sail harmlessly past. To Batman's horror, the projectile inside curved back around, striking a large crack in the wall and setting off dangerous rumblings. Seeing the damage spread upward and start to affect the ceiling, the crimefighter grabbed his startled partner and pulled back, halting their forward run before it took them directly beneath the section of roof about to collapse.

"Uh, Batman, what are you doing? The guy's getting away!"

"The ceiling-"

"Is fine!" He blinked, and realized Batgirl was right. His batarang was indeed stuck in a crack in the wall, but the damage he'd have sworn just seeing spread upwards was no longer there - along with their mystery man.

The man rubbed at his forehead and sighed. "This just isn't my day." His muttered words got a snort out of her, and then Batgirl was giving him a gentle nudge.

"C'mon, Boss Bat. We might have lost the guy for now, but at least I can explain how you're going to fix this afternoon's mistake."

"...I'm almost afraid to ask."

Hidden in the shadows ahead of them, the man they'd been chasing grinned with a evil humor. "Not yet, Batman. Not by a long shot yet." He whispered, elated at knowing his latest concoction was about to be given its trial run on Gotham's very own Dark Knight.


	27. Episode 5: Scared Stiff, Part 3

"...And don't forget to invite Kara and Wally along, that way Dick doesn't feel like you're only doing it to distract him from re-doing the project."

Batman raised an eyebrow at her. "Except, that's exactly why I'm doing it."

"Ye-ah, but you don't need to let the kid know that." Batgirl huffed. The entire car ride back to the Cave, she'd been detailing the day of fun he was going to treat Dick to that weekend, both to cheer the boy up and pacify Alfred. None of it was too extreme, or out of the ordinary - just enjoyable activities that Bruce's foster son had expressed an interest in during the two and a half years he'd been living in Gotham. And yet, with each new item added to the list of things to do, the Dark Knight couldn't help the growing feeling of uneasiness inside of him. It was as if no matter how much logic he applied as to why the plan was perfectly safe and reasonable, something in the back of his mind continued to argue otherwise. Batman was trying and failing to wrestle the sense of unease into submission, without much success.

"I'll bear it in mind." He stated, realizing Batgirl had been waiting for his response for a few minutes by that point. She crossed her arms and glared.

"Nooo, you mean you'll agree to it. I'm serious, Boss, this could get to be an even bigger deal if you don't do something about it soon." Batman started to tell her about his uneasy feeling that warned against the idea, when something large ran across the road ahead of them.

Slamming on the brakes, he scanned the area around them to try and figure out what it was, while Batgirl recovered from her initial surprise. "B? What's wrong?"

"Didn't you see that?" He demanded, still searching for the large pale shape.

"...No. What was it?"

"I- I'm not sure." Cautiously, Batman started the car moving again. "Something ran across the road, just ahead of us."

Batgirl narrowed her eyes at him. "Boss, you sure you've been getting enough sleep lately?"

-C-

"I'm certain I saw something, Alfred, but Barbara didn't see it or believe me afterward." Bruce was leaning against the kitchen counter, glowering at the floor as his oldest friend prepared the morning meal.

"That is certainly odd, sir." The man intoned neutrally. Mentally groaning, Bruce remembered that Alfred was still annoyed at him, remaining in an unhelpful mood.

"...Before that, she'd been giving me suggestions on how to try and help Dick feel better about the proje- _Alfred, be careful!"_ Lunging forward, Bruce knocked the startled butler away from the stovetop, already searching for the fire extinguisher.

"Good Heavens, Master Bruce, whatever is the matter?!" The older man demanded, grasping his arm. He tried to explain, only to realize that the giant flames he'd have sworn seeing leaping up from the pan were gone. Instead, the strips of bacon were still sizzling passively, while Alfred was giving him an odd look.

"...Maybe I do need to get some more sleep."

Down below in the Bat Cave, Barbara was just telling an incredulous Dick exactly that. "I'm not kidding - first in the sewers, and then on the road, he was acting really paranoid. I mean, even more so than usual."

"So, what, you think he was seeing things?" The younger boy tilted his head slightly.

"I dunno. I'm not even sure if he's just overreacting because of something that happened while we were out, or Bruce hasn't been getting enough sleep, or if something's spooked him lately and he's going back to being super protective like during the first Joining invasion."

"Oh, great." Dick groaned. "That would explain why he didn't want me to take in the League poster for my project, though."

"Mm." Running her fingers through her hair a few times, Barbara then pulled it back into her usual ponytail and picked up her bag. "Well, I've got class in a couple hours, so I'd better get going."

"Yeah, me too - is college really better than the lower grade levels?"

"Loads better. I mean, I have to study a lot more, but the teachers are pretty laid back..." As the two made their way upstairs, the teen continued to regale her young friend with the numerous positives of being in university as opposed to Middle or High School. She did not, however, bring up the continued issue of differing social groups that could be a nightmare to navigate, or how three of her classmates had turned themselves into animal hybrid supervillains the year before - some things were best left unmentioned...


	28. Episode 5: Scared Stiff, Part 4

Entering the corporate headquarters of Wayne Enterprises later that morning, Bruce briefly wondered if the stress of both his jobs was starting to get to him. Almost every time he glanced around, he had to restrain himself from jumping at what appeared to be dangerous situations that no one else was reacting to. A man about to cut his own fingers off with scissors, another one being strangled by his tie, a woman setting a plant on fire... It just kept going on and on. For a moment in the elevator, Bruce would have sworn they were suddenly dropping to their deaths - but neither of the employees standing in front of him appeared scared in the slightest. Biting his tongue, he waited until the door opened with a ding and the pair continued onwards before he allowed a relieved gasp out.

First thing this evening, he was getting some extra sleep. And if the odd hallucinations continued after that, he'd do a blood test.

In the meantime, though, there was paperwork Bruce needed to look over and projects to give his approval on, as well as some behind the scenes assets for Batman's work that needed to be hidden within the company's accounts. He never looked forward to the tasks, but they were necessary for keeping both sides of his life running smoothly.

Bruce opened up the door to his private office, only to freeze when a scowling apparition of his father glared at him from the middle of the room.

"Mr. Wayne...?" Snapping his gaze around to stare at the secretary, Bruce blinked at her concerned expression.

"Yes, what was that?" He apologized.

"I was told that Mr. Fox was asking for you to come by the R&amp;D department in an hour, if that's alright?"

"Ah, of course." The ghost in his office had vanished, so Bruce gave her a charming smile and nodded before stepping into the office and closing the door behind him. Sagging against it, he distantly wondered what it would be like to stay in Arkham for a while.

-C-

When Dick somersaulted out of the elevator into the Cave that evening after finishing his homework, Bruce was seated at the computer and staring intently at something on the screen.

"Are we going to head out soon, or...?" When his mentor showed no signs of having heard him, the boy sighed and jumped up to crouch on the back of Bruce's chair. Then he held onto the man's shoulders as he leaned forward to look upside down into the narrowed eyes. "Bruuuce!"

Jerking with a startled gasp, the man nearly threw his young partner to the ground with his motion. "Dick! What are you doing? Be careful!" Grabbing onto the boy, Bruce cautiously lowered him onto the floor, acting as if Dick would shatter in his grip.

"Seriously? You do realize I do things like that all the time, right?"

"...Right." Rubbing furiously at his eyes, the man looked like he was approaching exhaustion.

"So, what were you concentrating on that's got you in such a weird mood?" Silently, Bruce directed his attention to the computer screen. Dick blinked as he took in the tests being run on a blood sample, all coming back saying their was some unidentified substance multiplying within. "Huh. Who does the sample belong to?"

"Me."

The boy's head snapped back around to stare at him, so fast it almost hurt. "_WHAT?!"_

"I've been having hallucinations since early this morning, Dick, and they're only getting more complex and frequent. A moment ago, it looked to me like you were shaking like a leaf and about to keel over."

"...Oh. That's... That's not good." He frowned, arms coming up to cross over his middle. "What are we going to do about it?"

Sighing, Bruce had to force himself to outline the plan. "I'm not going to be able to go out on patrol until we figure out how to counteract whatever poison is in my veins. So, while I do everything I can here to figure out who our mystery man was and where he might have gone, I'll need you and Batgirl to do the fieldwork while keeping up our regular patrols."

If the situation weren't so dire, Dick might have whooped from the excitement of he and Barbara protecting the whole city all by themselves. As it was, he merely nodded, ready to start going over the clues with Bruce. Before that, though, he launched himself forward the hug the man.

Startled, Bruce reflexively held the worried boy in return, neither willing to contemplate what might happen if they couldn't reverse the situation.

-C-

"-But how the heck did that stuff get in his bloodstream?" Batgirl protested as she and Robin moved across Gotham's rooftops.

"He thinks it might have been the dust from when he first dropped down into the basement. Considering how long Dent said this guy had been set up down there, it would have been plenty of time to rig a boobytrap for anyone who came to bother him."

"So, this creep probably has more of the same sort of thing stashed away. Great."

"That's why B told us to keep the oxygen masks on or nearby at all times." Robin informed her, flipping as he leapt from one building to another. "And also to be really, really careful."

"Well, he'd say that last part even if we were just on a regular patrol, and not after some fear-toxin-making nutjob."

"True." Catching sight of how pensive the kid looked, Batgirl sighed and slid to a stop.

When Robin backtracked to stand beside her, confused, the teen took hold of his shoulders in a reassuring grip. "We'll catch this guy, Rob. And we'll make sure Batman comes out of it just fine."

He offered her a weak smile. "Thanks. And I know. I just wish it wasn't _him_ who'd gotten infected, y'know?"

"Oh, so you're wishing it was me instead?" Batgirl clasped both hands over her heart as she pretended to groan in despair. "Some friend you turned out to be!" Robin laughed at her, and the pair enjoyed a few moments of lightheartedness. Then they returned to seriousness as their patrol continued.


	29. Episode 5: Scared Stiff, Part 5

_Jonathan Crane. PhD in Psychology. Specializing in the study of phobias and the effect of fear upon the human mind. Sacked from his teaching position at Gotham University after dangerous and unsanctioned experimentation upon students._

If this wasn't the mystery man from the basement of Bollard's, Bruce would eat his Batsuit.

Now, the next problem was figuring out where the man might have gone after his previous base was discovered. Or... Was it even a base at all? From Dent's report, Crane had been in that location for weeks, allowing and all who came to the establishment to know he was there. Possibly... Waiting for word to reach Batman himself. Perhaps the thief who turned himself in to the police was meant as a message, a tid-bit to attract the Dark Knight's attention, so that he would come to Bollard's and be exposed to the dust that was in just the right place for an ambush. If Crane wanted a test subject, it was entirely likely he would want to go after someone also used to wielding fear as a weapon. Although, with Batman being absent from Gotham's streets that night, the scientist might decide to go after his partners instead-

Bruce forced himself to stop thinking. His heart rate was picking up he went over the terrifying idea that Robin and Batgirl might be targeted next. If he wasn't careful, the next hallucination would be-

The Batwave went off.

Hesitating, Bruce answered it. "Batman here. What is it, Robin?"

_*We've got a- a slight problem, B.* _The boy's voice sounded far too shaky, but Bruce wasn't willing to accept that his hallucinations weren't the cause of it. Not just yet, anyway.

"What's wrong?"

_*W-we found a w-warehouse, where s-some guys were, were unl-loading weird b-boxes - long story sh-short, I th-think BG and I i-inhaled s-some of that s-same s-s-stuff as y-you!*_ Robin was definitely starting to sound scared, if not outright panicked. Bruce was ready to leap for the car and drive straight to his partners' location, but-

But what if he got there, and walked straight into a delicate situation that the pair could have handled, only to cause further problems because his mind was playing tricks on him?

_*B-Bats?*_ Hearing the desperation in his foster son's voice, Bruce decided it didn't matter if he was hallucinating again.

"On my way, Robin. Batman out."

-C-

"Did you hear something?" Batgirl blinked, and looked over at the boy crouched beside her.

"Hear what?"

"I dunno." Robin checked his communicator just to make sure, but it was definitely turned off. Shrugging, he tucked the device away, focusing once more on the building he and Batgirl were observing. "So, former drug-producers' hideout."

"Yeah, one that was abandoned in that turf war between Penguin, Riddler and Joker back before my dad and I came to town. Batman told me he's found people using it to make their own stuff from time to time, so I figured it was worth a look, in case our mystery man doesn't have the funds for his own personal lab and base of operations." They continued the observations for a few more minutes, but it was hard to tell if anyone was home through the boarded windows and padlocked door. Eventually, the young crimefighters decided a closer look was warranted.

Batgirl led the way down, checking through one of the less well-sealed windows before she gestured for Robin to join her. Once the pre-teen had touched down, the pair slipped around to the backdoor, picked the lock and headed inside.

"Yeesh, somebody could stand to take a dust rag to this place." Robin whispered as they moved into the room among abandoned tables and equipment. About to respond in kind, Batgirl found her attention caught by an interesting detail.

"Yeah, but look at the floor." Sure enough, the concrete beneath their feet was swept and mopped - spotless in comparison to everything else - leaving nothing for footprints to be tracked through. Even if their mystery man himself wasn't here, _someone_ was definitely making use of the place, and didn't want to advertise the fact.

Splitting up, the crimefighters starting circling the room, searching for any sign of a hidden door that could lead to them to the real workshop. Robin was the first to find something: the fire extinguisher, old and unused, was hung upon a false panel. Swinging it open revealed the switch for an electronically controlled door to their right, which in turn led to a set of stone steps leading down into darkness.

"Age before beauty?" Robin snickered at Batgirl's deadpan look.

"I am so tempted to shove you forward and say 'Ladies first,' just to see how you'd react." She muttered, taking the first step down.

The gas bomb erupted before either of them could even hope to grab for their oxygen masks. Coughing, Robin tried to peer through the cloud in order to see his partner. When the gas cleared away, he felt himself freeze in fear.

He was standing on a trapeze platform, high above a cheering crowd, while his parents soared through the air in front of him. Gaping, the boy started to shake as he watched his father grab ahold of his mother- as the wires above him came loose- as his mother turned her shocked eyes in his direction- as their expressions begged to do something, _anything,_ as they fell to the ground far, far below to the sound of the audience's screams.


	30. Episode 5: Scared Stiff, Part 6

When he got out of the car, Batman frowned at the tracker in his hand. Robin's earlier message had distinctly said that he and Batgirl were attacked at a warehouse, but the abandoned building before him could hardly be called such. Had the pair been subdued and moved? Or was the call itself another hallucination, courtesy of the substance in his blood combined with his fears for the younger heroes-?

A pair of familiar screams from the building caught his attention.

Barbara. Dick.

Instantly, the man kicked down the front door, racing through the dilapidated rooms as he followed the terrified sounds. Coming to a back workshop, Batman felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of the same sack-cloth covered man standing over his partners, each of whom was curled up on the floor and screaming in panic or pain.

"Ah, and the guest of honor has finally arrived-" Before the scientist could finish his words, Batman was suddenly standing directly in front of him. A curled fist slammed into the man's gut, doubling him over in pain and allowing Batman's over arm to slam down across his shoulders. With a wheeze, he started to fall, only to be grabbed and slammed back against the wall.

"What did you do to them, Crane?" The enraged hero demanded, his growl audible even over the scream. "And better yet, how do I reverse it?"

"Now, that- that would be telling," the beanpole of a scientist choked out. "But you're welcome to, to poke around and look."

Not in the mood for smart alec remarks, Batman rammed him into the wall a few more times. "_Talk."_

Wheezing and unable to actually speak at this point, Crane weakly tilted his head in the direction of a bag lying on the floor beside Robin. Taking a moment to first cuff the injured scientist, Batman hurried over to the bag, opening it up to reveal an assortment of vials containing differently colored potions and powders.

Even if their wasn't an actual antidote, there was bound to be a formula in one of them that he could reverse engineer for a cure.

Within ten minutes, Crane had been suitably knocked out and secured to one of the pipes running up the side of the room, while Batgirl and Robin were each carefully placed within the Batmobile. Both of them had ceased screaming, turning instead to producing small whimpers that tore at Batman's heart. Bag of vials at his side, he sent a quick message to Commissioner Gordon, informing him about the new villain, his recent activities, and current location. The man thanked him, asking in a softer tone if Batman's partners would recover.

"I'm going to do everything I can to make sure of that." And really, there wasn't anything more he could promise.

Alfred was waiting anxiously by the time that Batman came to a screeching halt inside the Cave. He barked for the butler to carry Dick as he himself scooped up Batgirl's trembling form, rushing each of them to the little medical bay. As Alfred did what he could to ease the youths' suffering, Bruce pulled off his cowl and started running Crane's powders through the spectrogram analyzer one by one. He also went and got a blood sample from each of his partners, adding them to the machine to start determining what compound was causing the reaction.

The computer at one point chimed that it had found a match for the substance in Bruce's blood, but he ignored it in favor of going through the rest to find a cure for the other two.

There _had_ to be a cure.

-C-

Groaning, Barbara forced her heavier than usual eyelids to open. Recognizing the grey stone above her as the Cave's roof, and the warm metal beneath her as one of the med bay beds, the teen tried to figure out what possible trouble she and Robin could have gotten in that would warrant a trip to Alfred's domain of stitching and bandages.

Then her memory jolted into place: the secret door. The cloud of gas. The visions of being helpless in Poison Ivy's vines as her former friend laughed and dropped all the people Barbara loved into vats of acid-

_Deep breaths, Barb._ Forcing herself to calm down again, the teen careful sat up in order to better look around. On her left, a plate of cookies had been left along with a mug of milk. Smiling slightly at Alfred's thoughtfulness, she turned to the right. And her smile promptly morphed into a grin.

Bruce was sitting in a chair between her and Dick's beds, head back, drooling slightly as he slept. Beyond him, Dick had curled onto his side, both hands wrapped around the one Bruce must have set down on the bed at one point. Desperately wishing she had a camera, Barbara was forced to simply eat her cookies while enjoying the view for as long as it lasted.

She'd find out later what the heck had happened after she and the kid went down.


	31. Author's Interlude 5

Okay, so Scared Stiff ended up being a bit tricky to write than I would have liked. But that's okay - it's finished at last, and now we finally start moving back into territory I've plotted beforehand!

Huzzah!

I'll be writing like crazy over the next few days to try and get the Hawkling episodes into as few separate updates as possible, because after this, things start getting _really_ exciting. And while I'm very good at writing cliffhangers, I know as well as anyone how much they suck.

So, come back at some point around the start of next week for Episode 6, and pay no mind to the author's evil cackles in the background... ;)

-Triscribe


	32. Episode 6: Hatchling Found, Part 1

If there was one thing Hal Jordan hated more than stupid missions, it was monitor duty on the Watchtower. Honestly, he was less bored while channel-flipping, which was basically what the job amounted to. Keeping tabs on the various news broadcasts, glancing over the readouts from the sensor array, always being on the alert for anything big so that he could warn the others...

Hal blinked, automatically swinging towards the communications console as the idea took center stage. The others! Why hadn't that occurred to him before? Inputting commands for the Watchtower to start displaying footage of his fellow heroes and their partners was a sure-fire way of entertaining himself.

And like clockwork, they all appeared on the screens before him. Supes and his baby cousin were evacuating people from a burning building... Hawkman was brooding on one of his usual perches over-looking Midway City... The pair of hot-headed archers looked to be enjoying themselves, taking down a group of bank-robbers... J'onn was in his civilian ID, working a case in Chicago... Both Flashes had run halfway across the world to get croissants in Paris... And the trio of Gotham Bats were nowhere to be seen, as usual. The screen was stubbornly directed towards a shadow filled building, though, so Hal figured that Batman and his partners must be busy somewhere inside.

Checking in with each of his friends, it took the man a few minutes longer than usual to note the beeping coming from another console. Muttering under his breath about the interruption, Hal hurried over to take a look.

His irritation swiftly became horror. "Ohh, crap."

-C-

Batman was so, _so_ tempted to ignore the summons coming through his communicator from the Watchtower. He knew that Green Lantern was on duty at the moment, and that the man was perfectly capable of calling all the other members of the League up just as a practical joke to relieve his boredom. Rationality won out, however. Sending a brief message to Batgirl and Robin, telling them to continue rigging the party favors for their trap that would take place later in the night, Batman returned to the top of the old office building and digitally ordered the plane to come down for him.

Thanks to the modifications made to the Batwing a few months before, it was capable of getting up to the orbital base in less time that it would have taken to get back to the Cave and take the zeta beam teleporter. Batman arrived just behind a blue and red clad shape, who oh so kindly waited in the hangar for the Dark Knight to join him before heading up to the monitor room.

"Would I be right in assuming I'm not the only one who hopes that this isn't just a waste of time?" Superman asked as his teammate dropped down from his plane. Batman merely grunted assent, and the two entered the elevator. They exited it a mere twenty seconds later to find chaos incarnate.

"-will _not_ allow him to do the same here!" Hawkman was bellowing, Flash trying and failing to calm him down. Green Lantern and the Martian were almost frantic as they moved about some of the different control consoles, while Arrow stood off to one side looking decidedly uncomfortable but unable to do anything about it.

"What's going on?" Batman demanded, striding into the room with his long cape trailing behind. Their Thanagarian member fell silent, though his wins still flapped with agitation.

"We have an extremely large incoming vessel in the outer solar system, which Hawkman has identified as War World - a travelling gladiator arena with decidedly dark aspects to their recruiting methods." J'onn answered distractedly.

Green Lantern picked up the thread from there. "The guy in charge, Mongol, has a habit of either threatening or outright kidnapping a prospective fighter's family members in order to get them to basically sign themselves into slavery. He usually makes a habit of then letting the hostages go without harm after that, but-"

"But if the warrior refuses, he kills the kidnapped victim and leaves their corpse floating in space, without a proper funeral or even allowing the family to come retrieve the body." Hawkman growled in a tone dark enough to rival Batman's. The cowled crimefighter frowned, trying to determine why the Thanagarian was so much more upset than the others who knew of this War World-

And then the answer hit him with sickening surety.

"Who did you know that Mongol killed?" Batman quietly asked, causing the rest of the room to fall silent. Hawkman himself froze, and then bowed his head in grief.

"My daughter."

-C-

"So, why do you think B had to pull out early?" Robin asked as he and Batgirl installed the last of the tripwires. Standing with a slight groan from the night's work, the teen considered it.

"Has to be some big League emergency. Probably not a natural disaster, since they tend not to bother calling Batman or Arrow for that stuff, so I'm betting on something extraterrestrial."

"Greaaat." Robin rolled his eyes beneath the domino mask. "Just what we need, another alien invasion."

"At least it isn't a zombie apocalypse." Batgirl teased him, reminding the boy of the incident involving him, Batman, Hugo Strange and a vial of hallucinogen.

"Not funny, BG. Not funny at all."

The pair continued to debate what would make a worse emergency as they headed for the rooftop entrance of the building. Their little family group had gotten word of a meeting between some of the lesser gang bosses looking to collaborate on expanding their collective territories, which would be taking place in the very building they'd just filled to the brim with booby traps. The plan was to wait until someone started triggering the nets and other goodies, then send a signal to waiting officers of the GCPD, who would simply have to surround the building and allow the panicked crooks to come running out to them.

After settling atop a different roof nearby, Robin contented himself with performing small acrobatic tricks while Batgirl brought out a small device with a detachable screen to go over some of her homework for later in the week.

They were still there almost an hour later, and seriously starting to wonder what the heck was so big an emergency that Batman hadn't yet returned or even called them.

-C-

"It was just over a year into my career switch from planetary police work into intergalactic service," Hawkman explained despondently, holding his helmet in both hands and staring down at the blank eyelets. "My wife, Shayera, was a military officer - one of the finest. She commanded a small scout fleet, who were ambushed by a group of Gordanian Destroyers. Only a few of their number made it out alive of that battle, and solely because Shayera piloted her own vessel into the main reactor of the enemy flagship. It was a hero's death, and our family was honored because of it. Honored in perhaps a few too many ways, it would seem.

"Not long after, Mongol's War World came to our solar system, seeking warriors for his blood-thirsty games. Several Thanagarians were tempted to sign on, for the glory of winning such an event, but that was before it became known that to join was to remain in the fighting ring for the rest of your life. With no one willing to take up his offer, Mongol instead employed his kidnapping tactic. After my wife's death, our daughter Kendra lived with Shayera's brother's family, the Taliks, fine warriors each one, all of whom had been given a greater amount of prestige thanks to her sacrifice. Mongol took my daughter, seeking to use her as leverage against any of the Taliks to get them to fight in his arena." The other men in the room glanced away as Hawkman swiped angrily at his tearful eyes.

"You weren't around when any of this happened, were you?" J'onn asked softly.

"No. No, I did not return to the Thanagar system and received word of it until long after Kendra had been taken and killed. My hatchling's life meant _nothing_ to them!" He slammed a fist into the metal wall, denting and tearing it. "After that, I requested to be sent on every long and dangerous mission available, anything to get me away from things that would remind me of either Shayera or Kendra. And eventually, my assignments brought me here, where I've elected to stay." The room remained silent for several minutes as all of them thought over their Thanagarian member's tale.

"Then we'd better make sure that barge-boat doesn't get anywhere near Earth." Green Arrow finally spoke up, getting them to return to action.

The Watchtower was rotated in its positioning and trajectory so as to be facing the direction that the War World was coming from, weapons systems aimed forward. A brief report was written up and sent down to the UN and major national governments, warning them of the incoming hostile and what he would be coming for. Superman handled the responses, assuring various diplomats and military personnel that the League would seek to drive Mongol away without allowing him to get too close to the planet. Green Lantern also sent a report to the Guardians on Oa, though the distance was great enough that it would be some time before they could expect a reply.

During all of their preparations, though, none of the League members thought to check in with their young partners, either to keep them informed or to tell the kids to return to their various homes. Every single League member would be kicking himself for that lapse later...

-C-

"...And that's when I officially decided: I cannot stand chemistry."

Batgirl snorted. "It took you six lab table explosions and a different partner with every assignment to decide that?"

"No, the explosions were the fun part. It was my teacher's inability to understand that they were the best part of experiments that forced me to come to the conclusion that I did." Robin walked up to her on his hands. "Why do so many employees of the public school system think they have to stomp all the fun out of kids' lives?"

"I think it might be one of the job requirements." The teen answered him, idly going over the last of her notes on the tiny device in her hand.

"Hey... What's that?"

"What's what?" Robin flipped upright, gaze going from the reflection on Batgirl's screen to the glowing dot in the sky above them. His partner followed the look, also getting to her feet in an effort to see better. "Huh..."

It looked like a star was gradually getting larger and larger, changing color slightly as it did so. Eyes widening, Batgirl suddenly grabbed Robin and threw both of them off the edge of the building. Once midair, she fired her grappling line, pulling both young crimefighters away from their previous perch just as the meteor crashed into the top of it, collapsing the top few floors.

"What the heck?!" Robin exclaimed, looking behind them and gaping as something unburied itself from the rubble. The thing looked like a metallic cube balanced on one point, moving about on at least half a dozen legs, with deep purple eyes that opened up on all sides.

Then one of those eyes locked onto him and Batgirl, causing Robin to gulp. Looked like they'd be getting a bit more action that night than was previously expected.


	33. Episode 6: Hatchling Found, Part 2

Thanks to the information Lantern and Hawkman were able to supply, Batman had himself placed center stage to accept the transmission that came in not long after War World slipped into the inner region of their solar system. The alien who appeared on the Watchtower screen was relatively humanoid looking, with dark yellow skin placed over a squarish skull and jaw. He wore a warm, genial smile, the effect of which was rather ruined by the greed in his deep red eyes.

"Greetings, Earthlings! My name is Mongol." The alien greeted them. "I want to start off by informing you that we mean no harm, and that my people and I are merely passing through, seeking able warriors to participate in our-"

"You're not welcome here." Batman stated flatly. "We know exactly who you and your slavers are. Clear this system before we are forced to take action."

Mongol blinked, his smile fading slightly before returning with renewed vigor. "Ah, you must have heard some nasty rumors, but I can assure you-"

"Assure us of nothing, murderer!" Hawkman stepped into the video feed, allowing the War World ruler to see his distinctive helmet and wings.

"A Thanagarian." Came the flat response. "I can see where your misinformation came from, then."

Hawkman bristled. "Misinformation?! You kidnapped and killed my daughter, monster!" A couple of the other League members moved from their positions around the walls of the room to try and pull Hawkman back. Mongol, meanwhile, had a contemplative look on his face.

"I never killed that little bird."

Instantly, everyone aboard the Watchtower froze. "...What?" Hawkman choked out.

"I was hopeful that the ward of the Taliks would fetch me a cunning warrior, but when none came forward I made do with what I'd already gained. That tiny female, even when hardly an adolescent, fought my guards with such ferocity I went ahead and put her in the ring. Here," he gave a small flourish over some controls off to one side. "See for yourself."

A new image was pulled up on the screen, of a pair of aliens fighting in a gladiatorial arena. One was a massive, black and purple brute with multiple spines emerging down his back and limbs, bellowing as he swung about a long club. The other was a much slimmer figure, wielding a spiked mace as she flew over and around her opponent. Screaming, the winged girl managed to land a hit on a particular soft bulge on the brute's elbow, causing him to grimace, dropping his own weapon as he clutched at the wound in pain. Then another strike to the head had him falling down senseless.

The young Thanagarian landed atop her fallen foe, lifting up her bloodied mace as unseen crowds cheered. She couldn't have been more than twelve.

Hawkman found himself having a hard time breathing as Mongol's smiling visage returned to the screen. "You see? That was footage from several years ago, and the little bird has only gained more victories under her belt since then. Why would I have killed such a valuable asset?"

And just like that, the hero's rage returned.

"Asset? You regard those warriors as nothing more than property, than slaves!"

"Semantics," Mongol waved a dismissive hand. "Which does not matter at the moment. You see, I am not planning to leave this sector without some new exotics to add to my ranks, and I only take the best of the best."

It was Superman's turn to growl. "You're not taking any from here, Mongol."

"Is that so? I think you'll find I've already taken a few prizes, though they are small fry in comparison to what I hope to catch." At the Leaguer's blank stares, his grin grew feral, the alien leaning forward to explain with glee. "You see, I am not so unaware of this planet's peculiarities as you might think. A bit of chatter from some disgruntled Joining ships, a few transient galaxy wanderers commenting on the sights even small mudball worlds like yours can have - some Green Lantern transmissions now and then, even. Altogether, I thought gaining a few of Earth's well-trained and highly powerful heroes would comparatively easy, were I to first pick up the runts who followed their lead."

-C-

Hopping from one rooftop to another, Speedy allowed himself the luxury of a yawn. Normally, he'd try to hold it in due to GA's irritating habit of sending him home if he thought the teen was getting tired, but the older hero still hadn't come back to the city yet. Idly wondering what was taking his mentor so long, Speedy never noticed the meteor heading right for him until a few seconds before the thing crashed down.

Thrown from his feet by the bone-jarring impact, he rolled over to stare at the smoking mess on the roof behind him. Then the cube-spider thing got up, locked eyes with him, and Speedy knew he was about to get his first taste of fighting aliens.

-C-

Kara laughed to herself as she flew over the tallest buildings in Metropolis, enjoying the wind playing through her hair and around her clothes. Soaring up into the clouds above the city, she gazed up at the distant stars. They looked so different from the night sky of Krytpon, but were just as beautiful. The usual pang of sadness accompanied the thought of her homeworld, but Kara was content that it wasn't as strong as was normal. Maybe Dick was right, and the pain would fade away with enough time...

The young Supergirl's musings were interrupted as she noticed one light in particular getting brighter and brighter. Squinting to get a better view with her enhanced sight, Kara stiffened as she realized that the weird box thing was coming down right on top of her and her cousin's city.

Instantly, she was flying straight up as fast as possible, reaching the big metal object when it was still in the stratosphere. Grabbing ahold of it as best she could, Kara started to steer it out to land in the open land around Metropolis.

The electrified claws that emerged to grab onto her were a bit of a surprise.

-C-

Whenever Uncle Barry had to head off unexpectedly, he always told Wally not to go on patrol or fight any bad guys unless it was a life or death emergency.

Surely a meteor crashing into the pavement at the end of their street counted on the same level, right? Whether it did or not, Wally changed into his Kid Flash costume in a blur of motion and was out and standing at the edge of the crater lickety-split. Right as he stopped, though, a metal tentacle shot out of the cube thing in the hole and smacked Wally square in the chest. He flew back a few yards, getting the wind knocked out of his him as he landed. Even so, the boy was back on his feet by the time the box with eyes emerged from the crater and started firing more tentacles at him, some electrified, some with grabber claws, all of them kind of scary. Wally started dodging at super speed, working his way closer and closer to the cube in order to study it for some sort of weakness.

He wasn't expecting it to have sent a few tentacles into the ground, from which they burst up and tripped tripped him pretty painfully.

-C-

"To your left!" Robin yelled, giving Batgirl the heads up in time to avoid the clawed tendrils coming for her. Since their alien assailant had landed, the pair of young crimefighters must have traversed half of Gotham trying to avoid it. Each was sporting a multitude of small cuts and burns thanks to the various tricks of the cube, but adrenaline was keeping them up and moving just fine.

"Has Batman answered yet?!" The older of the two yelled at her partner, leaping across a yawning alley to land on another rooftop.

"No!" Robin answered back, knocking a tendril away with his staff before making the same jump. "I think that thing might have some sort of jamming device as one of its gizmos."

"Terrific," Batgirl muttered under breath. "We'll just have to keep waiting until he and the League notice something's wrong down here." She said in a louder voice, getting a nod in reply. Then both of them were forced to focus on the fight for a few minutes, until one of Rob's explosive batarangs made it through the cube's defenses, going off as it hit one of the thing's eyes and sending their opponent off the edge of the building.

"Yes!" The boy cheered, pumping his fist in the air despite his panting. Batgirl hurried over to the edge, wanting to check to see if they'd really beaten the thing. She whirled back around at the sound of breaking wood and plaster, just in time to see a gaping hole opening up beneath her partner's feet, dropping the kid before he had time to react.

"_Robin!"_

-C-

"Oh no." Superman paled as he realized what the alien smugly smiling at them meant. "You leave those kids alone, Mongol, or so help me-!"

"A bit late for threats, I'd say, as my drones have already slipped by your pathetic defenses and are returning as we speak." He glanced over to another screen. "Let's see, one subdued life-signal, two, three, four, fi- Hn. Well, I suppose that's one of the spares anyway." Mongol was enjoying the infuriated glares of the League. "Now, you already know how this works, but I'll go ahead and reiterate it for your underdeveloped minds: come aboard my ship. Fight in my arena. And the runts won't be harmed. Otherwise, well, I suppose your Thanagarian can supply all the thoughts of terrible consequences that you need. I expect a reply within the next ten minutes, before I start flushing those young, scared children out the airlock."

And with that, he ended the signal.


	34. Episode 6: Hatchling Found, part 3

Blinking his eyes open with a groan, Speedy tried to lift a hand to his head, only to discover that his arms were bound in front of him by some weird set of shackles. He tried to remember to remember what creep had taken him down, only to come up with the image of a cube.

Right. Alien box with electrified tentacles. Fan-freakin'-tastic.

Figuring he was probably aboard whatever passed as the mothership, Speedy carefully sat up to inspect his surroundings. So far, all he could see in the dim lighting were the floor, walls, and low ceiling of a standard looking prison cell. Even without proper illumination, though, the teen could tell that his bow and quiver were gone. His hands were bound, but his feet were free, so Speedy slowly but surely stood. That accomplished, he began to inspect the edges of his new room, coming up with a disappointing lack of weak points or anything that would indicate where the door was. Huffing a sigh, the young archer dropped down to sit with his back to a wall.

Guess it was time to wait, then.

Unbeknownst to the teen, in the cell directly next to his, Supergirl was coming up with the same conclusion. She hadn't even bothered trying to punch her way out thanks to the low red light filling her cell, recognizing it as the same red sun radiation that kept Kryptonians back home from accessing any of the powers in their DNA. With her hands also bound in front of her by the alien shackles, Supergirl had become decidedly less super and much more in need of rescue.

Next down in the row, Kid Flash was already bored, unable to move as he was because of the cuffs binding his hands and feet to one another in a big mess. Not having yet mastered his Uncle's ability to vibrate through obstacles, Wally was forced to sit still, his least favorite activity, made much worse by the awkward position he was in with his wrists held next to his ankles.

In the next cell over, Batgirl was in a panic.

The last thing she could remember from before the alien cube caught her with an electrified claw was the sight of Robin, trapped and bleeding amidst the collapsed rubble. It hadn't been apparent whether or not he'd been breathing at the time. Hopefully, the cube had just taken her, the healthier of the two, and either Alfred or Batman would be able to go retrieve the kid. Batgirl wasn't all that optimistic, though. More than likely, Robin was also in a cell nearby, slowly succumbing to his injuries, because whoever their new captor was, it probably wasn't someone who much cared if a captive died on their hands.

She just had to pray that the kid held on long enough for some form of rescue to come.

-C-

When Batman first stepped aboard the War World, he was instantly aware of something in the air that marked it as a place of death. It was the same feeling that had pervaded Gotham upon his return to the city after years abroad of study and training, a feeling that had thankfully lessened over his years of fighting crime.

Several dozen aliens of varying species and sizes stood around the Javelin, ready to take the Leaguers who'd come to whatever dungeon they'd have to stay in. There was Batman himself, Superman, Green Arrow, Flash, and Hawkman as well. J'onn and the Lantern were staying behind, the latter preparing to fly himself off to Oa as soon as possible in order to request reinforcements without risk of Mongol intercepting the message. In the meantime, the heroes aboard War World were going to do their best to keep themselves and their young partners alive.

The prisoners and their guards departed the hangar, moving through the halls of the massive, spherical ship. Eventually, they came to what could only be described as a throne room, with Mongol himself standing center stage to greet them.

"I'm so glad you all decided to accept my generous offer," the ruler smirked. "It truly would have been a shame to waste such promising future assets."

Arrow tensed, forcing himself not to grab for his bow. "What do you mean? I thought your deal was to let the hostages go once you got your gladiators."

"Mm, usually, yes. But I knew that to keep such strong-willed combatants like yourselves in line, I would need constant leverage. And, that even _before _I was informed two of my new acquisitions were the last Kryptonians." Superman forced himself not to use laser vision on the smug creep.

"How do you know we won't refuse to fight until you release them?" The Man of Steel demanded instead, crossing his arms and glaring. Mongol just threw his head back and laughed.

"Please! I've encountered enough parents and guardians to know otherwise." He gave the five of them a dark grin. "You'll do whatever it takes to prevent harm coming to them as it has this one." Nodding to one of the guards, Mongol continued grinning as a screen behind him flickered to life, displaying what had to be an infirmary. And there, lying unconscious on one of the beds, was a barely breathing Robin, his uniform torn and bloody.

Batman felt his blood freeze.

"I'll make sure the runt stays alive, of course, but exactly how much true medical attention he receives will depend entirely on the first performance of his mentor." Mongol leveled a look at the Dark Knight, whose fists had clenched and were quivering with rage. "Which, I believe, is scheduled first thing later tonight."

"I want to see him first." Batman growled, scaring Arrow and Flash into each taking a step away from him. Mongol merely raised an eyeridge.

"_After_ you fight." The alien stipulated. Batman gave him a stiff nod in agreement, and then Mongol had his guards escort the Leaguers out of his throne room, off to their new holding cell. As soon as the lot were gone, the ruler of War World sat upon his massive seat, calling up the security feeds that would allow him to watch all of the Earth heroes, adults and children alike.

"Well," he stated quietly to himself with a smirk. "This shall certainly be interesting."

-C-

"You just _had _to use the tail." Metar complained again, rubbing his sore appendage. Smiling at the memory of grabbing the Zidarian by it and swinging him into the wall of the arena, Kendra casually swatted at his head.

"Be glad I didn't hurl you hard enough to do more than knock you out, Met." The young Thanagarian cautioned him. "And you better hope I don't do a repeat of that move in here, 'cause your whining is getting on my nerves." Still grumbling, the older gladiator nonetheless quieted down and scooted away from her. Satisfied her warning had been accepted, Kendra continued on through the ranks of slave fighters, exchanging greetings with a few, shooting glares at others, always keeping her eyes peeled for any serious injuries that the medics might have ignored or missed. Despite (or perhaps because of) all they'd lost and were forced to do, the majority of War World's gladiators held onto their pride like a lifeline. If they thought some battle wound wasn't worth mentioning when the healers checked everyone over, then they certainly wouldn't go complaining about the pain of it later. Kendra always did her best to locate them and report the injuries before they became infected.

It was her way of passing along the good will some of these fighters had shown to the scrawny child she used to be, ensuring she had enough to eat and that no one went too hard on her in the ring. The one and only time a grouchy Slktik had done his best to kill her in the arena, the alien found himself the target of most of the elder gladiators for months afterward, receiving daily beatings that made him do worse and worse in the fights until Mongol had the broken warrior put down.

No one had tried to seriously hurt Kendra after that.

"Hey Ken, you hear 'bout the newcomers Mongol got?" She sat down beside her oldest friend Kozomin, where the massive rocky-skinned Forser was keeping watch on the rest of the slave hall.

"No. He sucker some backwater planet into sending along their best warriors or the usual?"

Kozo grunted. "The usual. Took a handful of kids from their home cities on a world called Earth to lure in their mentors, some group of fighters called the 'Justice League' of all things. Turns out a couple of 'em are Kryptonians."

"No way!" Kendra exclaimed. "I thought that planet blew up ages ago."

"It did. This pair, grown man and a little girl, are the only ones left." He hesitated for a moment. "The rest are natives of Earth, except for one... A male Thanagarian." Kendra instantly stiffened, her wing feathers bristling.

"How- Why was- Who would be stupid enough to-" So shocked by the news, the teen was unable to articulate her response at all. Kozomin snorted, reaching out an arm to wrap around her shoulders.

"Dunno who he is, just that the Earthlings called him 'Hawkman' in their cell. Some of the others are gonna try t' make contact t'night, after the newbies' first fights."

"...You'll tell me what they hear?"

"Sure, kid. You'll be th' first t' know."


	35. Episode 6: Hatchling Found, Part 4

"Katar Hol."

Unbidden, Kendra felt her eyes squeeze shut, attempting to hold back some uncomfortable blend of emotions that she wasn't about to try and name.

"You know 'im, Ken?"

"...Yeah," she eventually rasped out. "That's my father." Throughout the holding room, silence reigned as most of the gladiators directed pitying gazes towards her, something that Kendra knew instinctively even without looking. She didn't want to acknowledge the pain of having someone she'd lost so long ago so close once again.

"Think he knew ya were here?" Kozomin asked softly. Everyone knew of the young Thanagarian's family history, of her mother being dead and father off-world at the time of her kidnapping.

"Maybe. Might be he's just here with these friends of his." She didn't voice the hope that he'd been trying to find her all this time - that was a dream that had died long ago.

"Right, well, the others are this really weird bunch." The slave janitor who'd managed to make contact with the Justice League piped up again. "There's the Kryptonian, course, and he's got some scary abilities but seems like the type to want to pull his punches. He goes by the name 'Superman'. Then there's this earthling who gave move really, really fast, that the others call 'Flash'. And the other two, well, both of them I guess are average earthlings in terms of strength, but each of 'em have some pretty advanced weaponry and fighting moves. 'Green Arrow' is one, seemed nice, if a bit ticked off, but the other guy..." No one missed the way he shuddered. "They call the last one 'Batman', and I'll say it now - Kryptonian aside, _this_ is the guy to beat out of their lot. I think even Mongol might be a bit scared of him."

Several voices broke out into murmurs tinged with everything from fear to awe. They didn't fall silent again until Kozo held up a hand.

"What about the kids they took this time?"

"Well, each of them's been locked in a separate cell, and all I know is what I got from their mentors. None of the League guys are their actual parents, I think, but they sure act like it. The little Kryptonian is 'Supergirl', the big guy's cousin. There's also 'Kid Flash', with the same speed as the older one. Then they've got another archer like the Arrow guy, goes by the name 'Speedy'. And the last two, they're both looked after by Batman."

"Two?"

"Yeah, older one's a girl with the same symbol as him, called 'Batgirl'. Other one's a boy, 'Robin', who looks like he got hurt pretty bad in the snatch - Mongol's got him locked up in the infirmary, and warned his mentor that the kid will only keep getting medical attention as long as Batman does well in the ring." The slave's head frills kept twitching, a sure sign of how nervous he was. "His first fight's in just a little while, slated to go up against one of the Belabloars."

As one, every alien gladiator in the room expressed their version of shock. Some puffed up, others changed color, some like Kendra let out a gasp.

"No preliminaries or anything?" The Thanagarian asked in disbelief. "Just like that? Is he _trying_ to kill this guy off right from the get-go?"

"Sure looks that way."

More than a few people cursed in their native tongues or looked outright ill at the news. None of them had willingly signed up for this life, and to know that a man only going into the arena to ensure the continued lives of his children had been slated for what amounted to murder...

Many had often muttered under their breaths that Mongol would one day suffer a Reckoning for his despicable actions. With this latest atrocity, that day could not come soon enough.

-C-

Batman knew something was up the instant he stepped into the empty gladiatorial arena. From what he and the other League members had gathered from the slave that stopped by their cell earlier, opponents entered the ring at the same time, waited for Mongol's speech-making to end, and then immediately fell upon one another.

Clearly, though, he wasn't in the wrong place, as rising in concentric tiers around the walls of the arena were audience stands packed to the brim. Aliens of all types sat and cheered for the carnage to come. Also thanks to Green Lantern's limited knowledge, shared before they departed the Watchtower, Batman knew that the watchers were mostly all employees or higher class slaves aboard the massive ship. Mongol's true profit came from the recordings he made of the fights, sold across the cosmos, or the tickets bought by galactic travellers seeking a bit of a rest and entertainment on their journeys.

"Greetings, my friends!" The hated voice rang out, prompting the cheers to double in volume. Batman glanced up to the platform where Mongol stood, arms raised as he drank in the raucous noise. "We are going to enjoy a novel battle this night, as a truly unique warrior from the world called Earth takes on the fiercest monster we have here at the War World. I give you, Batman versus the Belabloar!"

A gate across the arena opened with a sudden _bang,_ releasing a creature straight out of a nightmare.

To the human hero's eyes, it looked like a gigantic cross between a rhinoceros and and a wolf, eyeless but covered over with barbed spines and tentacles which whipped about independently of one another.

Batman only had a split second to consider that he'd probably prefer combatting a joint rampage between Joker, Poison Ivy and Bane, before the monster charged him.

-C-

The first time Robin had awoken from his hazy state of unconsciousness, it was within the metallic cube thing and only lasted a few seconds before the pain had him black out again.

The second time, there were odd-looking people moving around him, doing things to the places he knew he was hurt, easing the pain somewhat. It wasn't long before he faded back into darkness, though.

On the third occasion that Robin was able to stir himself, he was still in the white-washed room, and while his injuries still hurt they'd faded to a dull sort of throbbing. Able to turn his head at least, the kid studied his surroundings, noting that while he was clearly in some sort of medical facility, it sure didn't look like one of Earth origin. Oddly designed tools and furniture aside, there were a few other aliens in beds down the row from him. The closest looked sort of human-ish, aside from her blue skin and pure white eyes.

"New acquisition, right?" She gargled at him after noticing Robin was awake and staring at her. He nodded briefly, still a little blown away by the situation. "Hn, you'll probably only be here a little longer. Mongol usually wants the adults rather than their kids for his arena."

Instantly, Robin's eyes widened in panic behind his mask as the implications of _that _statement sank in. Some sort of monitoring device beside his bed began to beep alarmingly as the kid struggled to sit up. The alien woman watched him impassively, not bothering to react as a grey robed healer rushed up from further down the room.

"Honestly, youngling." Robin fought back as a scaly hand grasped his shoulder in an attempt to strap the boy to his bed. Instead, the healer received a bony elbow to the abdomen, followed by three weaker than usual punches to his head. Still, weak as he was, Robin managed to knock the alien to the floor, then slipped off the other side of the bed. His knees buckled, causing the boy to grit his teeth as he tried to stay upright. Cautiously, he moved away and across the room, to a shelving unit where various tools were arranged. Robin grabbed up a couple of thin scalpels, tucking them into his gloves, along with a slightly more obvious saw-bladed thing. Then he started to shuffle towards the door.

"Hey," the alien who'd first spoken to him called out, causing the kid to pause. "Mongol's got an army of guards and security cameras in this place. Holding cells are two levels directly below us, but it's a million in one chance you'll make it there without being seen."

Frowning, Robin nonetheless nodded his thanks, before slipping out into the hallway.

-C-

Mongol waited with a broad grin outside the gladiator's entrance to the arena. While some of his mirth was genuine - how could it not be, if all the Earth heroes were as might in combat as their plainest member? - the rest of his expression had to be faked to cover up the anger filling his mind.

When the gate finally slid open, a truly disheveled Batman stomped through. His cape was ripped in numerous places from the Belabloar's spines, while the man himself would soon be growing crusty as the coat of goo-like slobber began to dry. There was also a hidden limp to the human's gait, and he held his left arm close to his side, but aside from those there was no outward sign of injury.

Truly remarkable indeed.

Then the inevitable moment arrived when Batman marched right up to him, heedless of the tense guards, and demanded to see his wounded charge.

"Ah, yes, well," Mongol allowed his grin to falter for just a moment. "I'm afraid that will not be possible at this time."

How the human was able to create such a deep growl, he would never know. "You said I'd be allowed to after the fight."

"So I did. Unfortunately, the boy's injuries proved to be greater than my healers had first been aware, and he died not long ago." Batman's entire form froze, his stock-still expression the epitome of shock.

"...What?" He was finally able to whisper.

"Yes, terribly sorry about that. But as we say here on War World, the weak perish so that the strong have a better survival rate." Mongol nodded to his guards, three of whom then attempted to get the human to begin the journey back to his cell. They weren't quite quick enough, though, to get Batman away before his blind rage returned, prompting the man to launch his fist upwards into Mongol's nose. The rest of the guards entered the fray, but it wasn't until one with an electrified gauntlet was able to grab ahold of the human and shock him in senselessness that the wild fight came to a close. Mongol himself had backed off from it, rubbing at the sore places inflicted upon him by those gloved fists. As he watched the army of guards remove Batman from the scene, the tyrant could almost overlook how furious he was over the wounded pipsqueak escaping and so far evading capture.

The Earthlings truly were a prize for his arena.


	36. Episode 6: Hatchling Found, Part 5

The day after the League's arrival on War World, each of the rest of their members were scheduled for arena combat. Batman's graceless return the night before, and subsequent news about Mongol claiming Robin had died, combined with the anger each of the heroes already felt, and led to every single one of them winning their assigned fights. Green Arrow nearly spent his entire arsenal, Flash dropped from exhaustion the instant his combat was over, and Superman ignored his guilty conscience in favor of downing the three opponents he was pitted against almost instantly, but they all won. Hawkman's fight was perhaps the most alarming to hear about, as he too had gone up against one of the creatures Batman fought and came out with even greater injuries, but none of them could say they hadn't put on a proper show.

As such, Mongol allowed them to visit the four remaining kids.

Escorted into a room filled with red sun radiation, the first thing Superman did was sweep his little cousin into a massive bear hug, relieved to see her upset but none the worse for wear. Flash had a bit trickier of a time embracing his nephew, as the redhead wasn't released from the awkward position his restraints kept him in. Speedy didn't even get a chance to grin at his mentor before Green Arrow glomped him.

The pair of Bats, though, reunited with a bit less enthusiasm. Batman did hug his startled partner, but then held her at arm's length to deliver the bad news.

"It's not true," Batgirl whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

"I wouldn't put it past Mongol to have lied," her mentor said in a rougher than usual voice. "But until we know for certain one way or another..."

"He _can't_ be dead-!"

"Barbara, listen to me! We don't know for sure! For all we know, Robin managed to escape from the infirmary and Mongol didn't want to encourage us to fight back by revealing that information."

"That has to be it." The teen stated desperately. "He's gotten off the grid, maybe even gotten started on his own plan to help us escape."

"Maybe so." Batman didn't bother to inform her about Mongol's seemingly endless forces, or how the alien appeared to have just about every inch of his monstrous spaceship watched. "We'll just have to play it by ear."

-C-

To be honest, Hawkman had only expected to be left behind in the group cell when his fellow League members were escorted out. He was greatly surprised, then, to have a pair of guards gesture for him to step out into the hallway. While the other heroes went one way, Hawkman kept his eyes peeled as he was directed to the other, led away from the individual and group cells, finally arriving to a much larger room. The guards shoved him in and then sealed the door just as his wings cleared.

Inside, dozens upon dozens of alien warriors halted their own actions to stare at him.

"Ah..."

One nine foot being, a Forser if Hawkman guessed right, slowly stood and approached him. "Greetin's, mate. Yer th' Thanagarian Katar Hol, right?"

"Yes, that is my name." He replied cautiously, observing how others deferred to this gladiator. "And you are?"

"Kozomin." The Forser crossed his arms in a gesture meant to appear intimidating, but Hawkman could see the nervous tension behind it. "I'm a friend of Kendra's."

Instantly, all of his attention was zeroed in on the alien being. "Kendra? She's really here? Alive?!"

"I take it you thought she wasn't."

"No," Hawkman murmured sadly. "Not until that monster Mongol said otherwise yesterday. But the footage he showed- it was years old- is she still...?" The words died unspoken when a few gladiators shifted where they stood, revealing one previously hidden behind them.

Her armor had been worn and patched, but underneath the added layers was a traditional Thanagarian design. The mace at her side had seen more service than that of any military cadet two years her elder back home. And though her expression attempted to remain passive, the nervous flutter of the carefully tended wings upon her back belied how much anxiety had to be tormenting the girl.

"Father," Kendra said cooly, with no sign of stumbling upon the term.

Hawkman didn't bother with saying a thing. He launched into flight, startling everyone with the speed with which he got to the younger Thanagarian. Then the man grasped his long-lost daughter in a tight grip, hugging her close.

"Kendra, hatchling, I'm so sorry I never came for you," he whispered in her ear, overtaken with both grief and joy at seeing the young woman she'd grown into. "I didn't know. Ancients help me, I didn't know..."

A pair of thinner arms tentatively returned the hug, and for a while no one disturbed the tearful family reunion.

-C-

Robin hissed in pain and irritation as another of his cuts reopened, forcing the boy to halt in his path and rip off another section of his tights to wrap around the injury. At the rate he was going through cloth, he'd soon be wearing shorts.

As with most large ships, Robin had been right in his assumption that there would be a system of ventilation shafts connecting decks and levels. So far he'd been working his way downward, avoiding the stink that warned of garbage chutes or the high-pitched humming of electrical conduits - also known as the most likely spots for security cameras or sensors to be placed. The method meant he'd had to do a fair amount of backtracking, but anything was worth not getting caught at this point.

He really didn't want to think about what kind of punishment would be in store for him from the owner of this place.

Bandage in place on his arm, Robin set out again, continually searching out the route to the holding cells where he hoped to find the others.

-C-

"Dead? I doubt it," Kozomin said bluntly. "Mongol's evil, not stupid. If yer boy managed t' give him th' slip, he'd rip his own tongue out before tellin' ya th' truth."

Outwardly, Batman's only reaction was a slight slump of the shoulders. On the inside though, hope and relief had wrestled back the looming despair. "I'll take your word for it."

The two of them were off to one side of the crowd that had gathered around the rest of the League. Upon the Earthlings' arrival in the gladiatorial cell, Hawkman had excitedly introduced them to his teenage daughter, followed by Kendra acting as mediator for the various fighters with questions for the newcomers. Kozomin, knowing that the darkly garbed human would be in a tense state worrying about his wounded charge, took him aside to avoid the influx of curiosity. Then Batman brought up the news he'd been given by Mongol after his first fight, causing the alien to try and deliver some assurance.

"We can see about getting someone t' check with the medics, if ya want." He offered, to which the human nodded firmly.

"I need to know for sure, one way or the other."

"Understandable."

The two of them would have continued to speak further, were it not for Superman and a couple of the gladiators with more sensitive hearing suddenly looking upwards and calling for quiet. Kendra shouted for the crowd to shut up, and in the newfound silence, nearly everyone could pick up the light tapping sounds coming from the ceiling.

"Please tell that ain't another quantum rat infestation," someone muttered, followed by several others hissing at her for speaking. Superman ignored them, flying up the twelve feet or so to place his hands against the cold metal.

"I think... It sounds more like a person crawling by..." He told the gathered people. "Is there a ventilation shaft or something similar above this room?"

"Revak's Horns, there's vents and garbage chutes and water pipes all through this monster!" A tentacled gladiator called out. "But most of 'em aren't near big enough to fit a body-" He was cut off by a solid thump right by Superman's hands. Two more sounded after it in quick succession, then three with longer pauses in between, and finally three more at the faster beat.

"What the frukas...?" No one except the five new arrivals from Earth recognized that particular signal.

"Please tell me that's who I think it is." Green Arrow grinned. Superman just shook his head in awe, throwing a fist upward to punch through the ceiling.

"Are you crazy?" Kendra blurted out. "Mongol's systems will sense that, and then we'll all be in for it-!" She cut her own protest off as the Kryptonian ripped open a hole large enough for a dark haired boy to tumble through, landing right in his arms and appearing rather worse for wear.

"Everyone," Superman announced as he descended back to the floor. "This is Robin."

"Hi," the kid croaked, pushing himself upright, just in time for Batman to sweep forward and take hold of him.

"What happened?" He demanded, taking in the sloppily bandaged injuries and bloodstains. "How did you escape from the infirmary?"

By the brief crinkling of his mask, it was clear that Robin blinked at him. "Hit the doctor. Walked out." Several people snorted in disbelief.

"Why would you do that when you were still hurt?" Kendra demanded, fists on her hips. The boy didn't even look twice at her.

"Had to find Batman." Then, exhaustion finally catching up to him, Robin pitched face-first into his mentor's chest. Seemingly faster than even Flash could move, the Dark Knight pulled off his cape and cowl to wrap around the unconscious twelve year old.

"You said that Mongol's forces will know about this soon enough?" He asked, shifting his gaze from the child in his arms to the female Thanagarian.

"Y-yes." Kendra couldn't help but stutter under the intensity of Batman's fierce expression.

"Good. I think it's about time they learned not to mess with people's families."

_To be continued..._


	37. Episode 7: New Nest, Part 1

"He ripped a hole in the ceiling? What the shnell for?" One of the guards asked as he and four others approached the cell door.

"No idea. But we're gonna find out." The one who answered had barely taken two steps into the holding room, though, before a red figure blurred up and knocked her out. In the next few seconds, Flash had taken down the other guards and dragged them inside. Green Arrow stepped out the door, holding it open with his foot as he scanned the hallway for security cameras. Spotting three, he went ahead and shot them down.

"Clear!" The human called back. Immediately, a stream of gladiators began to flow out of the cell, grinning and cheering as they charged off towards the assigned targets.

Batman had been the one to lay out a plan - groups of warriors would head for the ship's navigation controls, power core, and communications room. If those three locations could not be secured, then they'd have to be disabled, followed by a run to various escape pods and docking bays around War World. Many of the gladiators said that once they had access to a ship, they'd be able to reach civilization easily enough. Those from backwater planets like Earth who didn't have much knowledge of the universe at large were all paired up with those willing to help them return to their own homes.

As for the Justice League, their first priority was retrieving their young charges, after which they'd all pile into the Javelin and make a bee-line back to Earth.

Once the mass of warriors had departed, the smaller group started heading back towards the individual cells where the kids were being held. Flash zoomed off at his own pace, the pair of reunited Hawks close behind him. Superman stayed close to Arrow and Batman, the latter of whom still had Robin wrapped up in his arms.

"You gonna be able to fight with him like that?" GA asked as they ran.

"I'll manage." Was the growled reply, causing the archer to drop the subject. By the time they caught up to the others, all four of the remaining partners had been released from their cells and shackles. Supergirl tackled her big cousin in a flying hug, while Speedy dashed up to his own guardian.

"You okay?" The two archers said at once, before chuckling. Then Roy's attention was caught by the small figure lying limply in Batman's hold.

"Oh, no... What happened to the kid?" He asked, even as Batgirl moved to her mentor's side to check on the boy.

"I'll tell you later, right now we've got to get the heck out of here." With that, the larger group set off in the direction of the hangar where the Javelin had docked. While they ran (or flew, in some cases), Speedy couldn't help but ask Arrow one more question in a quiet voice.

"So, who's the hottie with the wings?"

"Hawkman's daughter Kendra," GA answered, smirking as the teen's face paled. "So I'd lay off the 'hottie' comments if I were you."

"Yeah, yeah, but how'd she- oof! Wally!" Roy started to fuss at the smaller redhead for his sudden stop, before realizing just why all the Earth heroes had halted.

Mongol was standing square in the middle of the hallway ahead of them, surrounded by guards and looking like someone had shaved his favorite cat.

"Kill them all." The tyrant growled.

-C-

"...and just like that, you let them go aboard the War World?!"

"If the answer to that question were 'no', Kil', we wouldn't be having this conversation!" Hal snapped back to the other Lantern. After an exhausting trip at lightspeed to reach Oa, the human had quickly explained what situation had arisen in Earth's solar system, and requested a few more Corps members as back-up to take down War World once and for all. The Guardians agreed (eventually), and allowed Hal to pick five further Green Lanterns to accompany him on the mission. His old combat instructor, Kilowog, had been the first name Hal chose.

Considering all the fussing he was getting from the alien, perhaps that hadn't been such a wise decision.

The other power ring wielders weren't any help, either, all of them hanging back slightly to enjoy the show. Though, Hal supposed that being irritated was a good way of helping time pass faster, because the next thing he knew, they'd arrived back in his sector of space. And just off the left, swinging past Jupiter, was the War World.

The moon-sized ship appeared at first glance to be flying along normally enough, but as they got closer, Hall could see something was off. The massive engines weren't firing at all, and the space in the immediate vicinity was rapidly becoming filled with... escape pods?

"Looks like my friends managed to stir up _some_ sort of disturbance." He muttered with a small grin.

Kilowog snorted. "Glad to know not all humans are as stupid as you then, Jordon."

"Oh, you are gonna hit it off with Batman, I just know it... Okay folks, this is where we split up - Ch'p and Katma, I want you two finding anyone on that barge not of their own free will and make sure they get out. Salaak, Arisia, start rounding up the voluntary employees for trial. Kilowog, you and I are gonna find the Justice League and the kids."

"What about Mongol?" The youngest Lantern, Arisia Rrab, asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"If you see him, great, show that tank of lard why we don't appreciate kidnapping and slavery. If not, don't worry about him just yet." And with that, the six Green Lanterns split off into the pairs to go about their assignments.

-C-

Things were not going well. For the guards, that is.

Thoroughly enraged by the whole mess regarding War World, the heroes of Earth weren't inclined in the slightest to hold back against their opponents. The various sets of mentor and partner were wreaking havoc: speedsters throwing punches too fast to see, Kryptonians lifting guards bodily off the floor only to launch them into others, archers keeping up the stream of explosions and electrified arrows. Perhaps most terrifying out of all of them were the Thanagarians, who'd gone straight for Mongol himself and were giving him to mercy - the tyrant was hard-pressed to defend himself, attempting to attack one of his enemies only to be forced back by the other, losing ground all the while.

"When Rob wakes up, I am so poking fun at him for missing this!" Batgirl yelled to her mentor at one point. Batman was keeping back from the fight as he still held Robin in his arms, only occasionally using one hand to throw batarangs at the crowd of guards. His other partner was doing far more damage, leaping, dashing, twisting midair as she maintained a line of defense for her fellow Gotham heroes that no alien was about to get through.

It seemed as though the League would be finished with the fight and free to continue on their way with only a few more minutes of combat. So, of course, that was when things took a downward turn.


	38. Episode 7: New Nest, Part 2

_It seemed as though the League would be finished with the fight and free to continue on their way with only a few more minutes of combat. So, of course, that was when things took a downward turn._

Another group of guards arrived in the hallway behind Batman's position, obviously having already gone through a fight of their own. Gritting his teeth, the human hurried forward, ducking and dodging his way through the battle to avoid someone taking either him or Robin hostage. Batgirl stayed as close to them as she could, acting as a buffer, until the moment an alien caught hold of her cape and flung the teen into a wall.

"BG! You okay?" Kid Flash appeared beside her, his mentor smacking down the offender.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good, go keep an eye on my boss and the bird boy, will ya?" She groaned, clambering back to her feet.

"Um... I would. If I knew where they went." Instantly, Batgirl's head whipped up, hoping she'd be able to smack Wally for scaring her.

Sadly, the speedster hadn't just overlooked her partners in a shadow - Batman and Robin weren't anywhere on the small battlefield.

"What the...?"

-C-

"Guess you were right, Jordan!" Kilowog bellowed happily as he slapped down a group of guards in one of War World's massive halls.

"'Course I was!" Hal hollered back. "...About what, exactly?"

"Humans really are good at making messes!" Guffawing at his reference to Hal's abysmal early days of training on Oa, the larger Lantern picked up a slaver with one hand and threw him into a pair that were trying to run away.

"Oh, thanks." The man grumbled, using a construct to pile all the unconscious guards together. They continued onward, heading in the general direction of the fighting arena and, hopefully, the cells where the gladiators were held. Hal didn't think for a second that they'd actually find anyone still imprisoned, but with luck the League wouldn't have gotten too far beyond that area just yet.

And sure enough, as the pair of Green Lanterns rounded a corner, they pulled up short at the sight of a lone Batman - _not_ wearing his cowl, shockingly enough - facing down a trio of alien guards wielding electrified prods. For some reason, the guy's cape was lying in a bundle on the floor behind him, and it didn't look like Bats was going anywhere.

The trio of guards started to approach, and the crimefighter's fists clenched tighter as he prepared to fight them off. His stance didn't change in the slightest when Hal's ring sent a giant fist plowing into the aliens, smashing them into each other and knocking the entire group out cold.

"Need a hand, Batman?" The other human snickered.

"What took you so long." Came the growled reply, causing Hal's grin to morph into an irritated frown.

"Hey, it's a long trip to Oa, but I actually made it back faster than I'd hoped - _with_ reinforcements, I might add-" He stopped talking abruptly as Batman turned and knelt beside his bundled cape and cowl, shifting the fabric around a bit to reveal Robin's bruised face. "Oh."

"I need one of you to get us to the Javelin as fast as possible," the Bat stated as he stood again, kid cradled in his arms. "We were briefly separated from the others, but they should just be one hallway over, fighting Mongol and his top guards."

"I call dibs on the fight." Kilowog quickly said, slapping Hal on the shoulder while nodding towards Robin's limp form. "You get these two outta here, 'kay poozer?"

"Yeah, yeah, just get going." The man muttered, generating a sphere around the pair of Gotham heroes and lifting them into the air. "Which way to the ship, Bats?"

"Left." As the small group flew, ignoring the occasional ominous rumbles from elsewhere in the War World, Hal tried to work up the courage to ask what the heck had happened. Every time he started to open his mouth, though, he saw the mix of concern and rage on Batman's bare face, and decided it could wait until after the kid was out of harm's way.

It was also at some point on that flight that Hal realized Batman was Bruce Wayne, but decided he could also save freaking out over that little detail for a more appropriate moment.

Following his teammate's instructions, Lantern got them to the hangar where the League's Javelin was waiting. He started to take them straight to it, only for the Bat to order him to stop.

"There's no telling whether or not it's been booby-trapped." Batman explained, carefully setting Robin down against the doorway into the large room, before he strode towards the ship. "Wait here."

Hal blinked. "Wait a second, why should you inspect the Javelin? You're not the one with the power ring in case something blows up before you can get out of there!"

"Would you even know what to look for?"

That... was a fair point, Hal admitted inside his mind, not that he was about to admit it to the Bat. But before the man could argue that they should check the ship together, something big crashed through the wall and into the hangar in a cloud of dust and rubble. Batman and Green Lantern each froze where they stood, cut off from one another by the thing's landing.

Then Mongol stood from the wreckage - clothing torn, skin gashed and bruised - with a look of pure murder in his eyes and scowl.

Hal suddenly wondered what was taking the rest of the League so long.

Even as he had the thought, a pair of shadows launched themselves through the hole in the wall and straight towards the ruler of War World. For all the times he'd seen Katar furious in battle, Hal wasn't prepared in the slightest for how scary it was to watch both the older Thanagarian and his daughter in a full-blown berserker fury. Mongol met their high pitched war cries with his own bellow, grabbing up a bent support beam from his pile of rubble to use as a club. The three went at each other, weapons flashing almost faster than the eye could follow, totally ignoring the other people in the hangar.

A number which went up by one as Supergirl flew in after the others. She pulled up short, eyes moving quickly to take in the entire scene.

"Whoops. Should've thrown him in a different direction," the kid muttered to herself, even as she turned around to go tell the others to hurry up.

Meanwhile, Hal was hovering beside Robin in a near panic, repeating every alien curse he'd ever picked up on Oa. The noise was evidently enough to rouse the injured boy, as he suddenly freed a hand from the confines of the cape around him to gently punch the man's leg. Hal jerked with a startled yelp, _not_ expecting someone who'd been unconscious just a few moments before to suddenly touch him.

"You gonna... help them... or not?" Robin got out, tilting his head to glare up at the older human.

"Ah... Right!" Positioning himself in the air, Hal waited until an opportune moment presented itself. When Mongol managed to whack the younger Thanagarian and throw her aside, he left his chest wide open. Within a split second, the Lantern sent the strongest missile construct he could manage plowing into the yellow alien, driving him down and making a new crater in the floor.

"Ha! Take that, you evil sonova- aw, hell!" Hal's tirade was cut short as he had to duck a piece of metal plating Mongol tore up from the floor and threw at him. Unfortunately, the projectile continued on its path, heading straight for the spot where Robin sat, unable to get out of the way in time-

"HYAA!" Kendra shrieked, catching the chunk of decking with a swing of her mace, sending the metal straight to the floor, several feet short of its intended target. Breathing heavily, she then dropped down beside the human boy. "You doing okay, kid?"

"Fine." He grumbled, trying with minimal success to free himself from his mentor's cape. "Need to move, though."

"Here, lemme help with that..."

Across the hangar, Mongol glowered at the pair, seeing his entire misfortune as being their fault. Catching hold of Hawkman's foot, the larger alien threw him into the Lantern, knocking both out of the way. Then he grasped another piece of damaged decking, and prepared to use it to skewer the Thanagarian girl and human brat.

Until, that was, a heavy weight landed squarely between his shoulder blades, causing Mongol to stumble and drop the metal sheet.

"_This,"_ a dark voice growled in his ear. "Is for hurting my _son."_ And with that, Batman leapt clear, activating the explosive package he'd left planted on Mongol's back. The resulting blast filled the hangar with smoke, but the Gotham hero was still able to smirk as he heard the _thud_ of his opponent collapsing to the floor.

-C-

"Please don't ever vanish on me like that again." Batgirl groaned as she collapsed into one of the Javelin's seats, across from where her mentor was re-wrapping Robin's more serious injuries. "Doing it to other people is just fine, but you two nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Elsewhere in the small ship, the rest of the mentors and partners were settling in for the trip back to Earth. Hal would be remaining with the War World for the time being, as he and the other Lanterns did clean up duty and then took the various slavers to the closest intergalactic court for trial. Afterward, the massive ship would be left where it was, engines and power core disabled, pulled into Jupiter's orbit as a new moon.

Flash sent off a message to J'onn, informing him of what had happened, as Arrow and Superman took their spots in the pilot seats, their three respective charges settling nearby. At the rear of the vessel, though, one pair couldn't bring themselves to relax just yet.

Kendra and her father sat beside one another awkwardly, each wondering how to start the conversation. Eventually, years living among blunt gladiators won out over adult maturity.

"I don't want to return to Thanagar." Katar jerked at the words, surprised, and didn't have the chance to formulate a response before his daughter went on. "I know you've always wanted to keep me out of harm's way, until I was old enough to take care of myself, but if surviving on War World doesn't prove I can I don't know what will. And they might be family, but the Taliks left me there - I don't want to return to them, to our homeworld, if you don't come with me." Hesitantly, the teen shifted to look at her father's blank face.

"To be honest... I feel the same." Katar said carefully. "They did nothing to free you, and that in my eyes makes the Taliks unworthy to be considered kin of ours."

"So... What you're saying is..."

"I want you to return to Earth with us, and be my daughter once again." Swallowing a painful lump in her throat, Kendra leaned over to rest her head against Katar's shoulder, relaxing as he wrapped a thick arm around her. Neither of them let their minds dwell on the horrors and loneliness of the past - only on the fact that, whatever the future held, they'd finally be together again to face it.


	39. Episode 7: New Nest, Part 3

"How the hell did you know Batman was Bruce Wayne before I did?" Hal asked with a grumble as he and Ollie walked down a busy sidewalk in Midway City.

"Luck," the blonde billionaire answered mildly adjusting his hat and sunglasses slightly. Recognized his butler when I first visited the Cave. Didn't take a genius to put two and two together from that."

"Oh. Do you think any of the others knew before this?"

"J'onn and Clark did. Pretty sure Barry did too. Katar, though, I doubt cared enough to try and figure it out before you went and had your freak-out on the Watchtower." Several hours after finishing clearing up the War World mess, Hal got back to the League's space station and promptly flipped over Batman's secret identity. What he got in return were a lot of odd looks and a whack upside the head from Katar, who said they had more pressing concerns to worry about.

For two nights, the members of the League and their partners had all been missing from their cities back in the US of A, and criminals were still taking advantage of the situation. Gotham PD were unable to prevent the couple dozens high-profile robberies that had taken place, while Star was going nuts with small time thieves going on robbing sprees. Out of all of their hometowns, Central was surprisingly the only one still relatively peaceful - Flash's Rogues had done some low-profile stuff the first night he and the Kid were gone, but afterward hadn't been seen or heard from. Granted, once the pair of speedsters showed back up, the half a dozen or so brightly colored criminals jumped back in to make up for lost time, but still.

Half a week later, once everyone had had a chance to get things settled at home, Hawkman invited them all to a private get-together, not just as a celebration of Mongol and the War World being put out of commission, but also as an official welcome party for Kendra, the newly dubbed Hawkling.

So, while Roy walked ahead peering into store windows and keeping an eye out for potential paparazzi, Hal and Oliver talked on their way to the Midway City Museum, curated by one Carter Hall.

"Y'know, I should've guessed he'd be just as loaded as you," the off-duty Green Lantern mused. "Had to come up with the money for those arsenals somewhere, after all, since neither one of you has any abilities of your own."

Ollie snorted. "You don't either - or does extreme stubbornness count?"

"Oh, ha ha. Hilarious."

Once they got to the closed museum, the trio showed their passes to the security guard, who led them back to a cleared-out storage room Mr. Hall had requisitioned for his daughter's homecoming party. Already there were Katar and Kendra, J'onn, Clark and Kara, and two of the three Bats, all in civilian clothes and guises, already helping themselves to the snacks.

"Could the pipsqueak not make it?" Hal asked Bruce, the dark haired man looking relatively laid back in his slacks and loose jacket. Gotham's hero merely raised his eyes upward. Following the look, Hal was startled to see Dick swinging upside down from one of the pipes crisscrossing the ceiling to another. "Is he well enough to be doing that?!"

"No," Both Bruce and his other partner chorused.

"But after four days of Alfred making the kid stay in bed, we decided to cut him some slack." Barbara explained, before going to share a fist bump with Roy.

A few minutes later, the security guard arrived again, this time leading Barry and Wally, the latter of whom whined when he realized that they were the last ones to arrive.

"I knew this was going to happen!" The thirteen slapped a hand across his face.

"Look on the bright side, Wally." Kara grinned. "You aren't stuck waiting for anyone else to get here."

"...True."

"Well, now that the gang's all here, it's time for some more Earth-behavior One oh One!" Barbara grinned, grabbing both Roy and Kendra and dragging them over to where a small sound system had been set up. The elder teen then began running through their music options, both her and the other human explaining to their alien newcomer why each was considered popular by modern standards. Ollie ended up moseying after them, and at one point complained that they hadn't brought any music older than the current decade.

"_That_ lesson is for another day, tonight we just want to play the _good _stuff." Roy snickered at the face his mentor pulled.

"Kids these days - they just don't appreciate the classics." Oliver huffed, to which Clark had to agree, riffling Kara's hair as he did so. The girl smacked his hand away, then flew up to where Dick was enjoying himself just by being able to move. Wally joined the older teens, and once the four of them decided on a CD with some pretty catchy tunes, he led Kendra to the snack table to start educating her on the best of Earth's junk and dessert foods. The adults settled into their own groups to discuss everything from the criminal cleanup efforts in their home cities to recent sports games, fondly watching the excited kids and teens all the while.

Dangerous start to the week aside, they were all happy to see things turn out for the better.


	40. Author's Interlude 6 & 7

Well, this was my first attempt at doing a two-parter, which sort of turned out well, I suppose, despite episode 7 being markedly shorter that number 6... Ah well. Just consider it one bigger than usual segment.

So, Kendra's arrival makes her the sixth Partner, and one of my favorites if I do say so myself. She won't be the last, though, not by far. I've been doing some more brainstorming lately for Continuations characters and episodes, so we'll be having even more than my last list showed. Future Partners will include an assistant for Lantern, another kid for Arrow, a couple more pipsqueaks for the Bat to take in, and the younger counterparts to some future League members. I hope you guys will be as excited to meet them as I will be to show 'em off!

The first segment of Episode 8: Trio of Troublemakers, will be up in just a little bit, and will feature not only some chaos from our three youngest Partners, but the Central City Rogues as well!

'Til next time,

-Triscribe


	41. Episode 8: Trio of Troublemakers, Part 1

There were two words which one never wanted to hear from the mouth of Wallace Rudolph West. Nothing good could ever come of them - they were seeds for chaos and destruction, always heralding some form of entertainment healthy to no one. It was these very two words which had Dick Grayson and Kara Kent look up at their friend with equal parts irritation and apprehension:

"I'm bored."

The three of them were currently in Metropolis, occupying themselves in the apartment where Kara lived with her cousin until Clark returned from work. Technically, the elder Kryptonian was supposed to be showing them around the city, but he'd been unavoidably summoned by his boss at the Daily Planet to cover an assignment for another reporter who'd called in sick.

And Wally had just said the dreaded two words.

Granted, all of the kids were feeling bored by this point, as there wasn't much in the downtown apartment to keep them occupied.

"Well... I've got a little bit of spending money." Kara spoke up hesitantly. "We could probably go to the toy store and back, maybe get a board game or something to play."

"Appreciate the offer, K, but I don't think that's gonna cut it." Wally gave her a lopsided smile from where he lay upside down off of the couch. "I need to be up and doing something, not just sitting around playing a game."

"Do we even really need to wait for Clark?" Dick asked, eyeing the skyscrapers visible though the big picture window.

"I don't think we'd want to go out just by ourselves, even if this _is_ Metropolis rather than Gotham."

"Not as Wally, Dick, and Kara, no," the dark haired boy was smirking by this point. "But what about Kid Flash, Robin, and Supergirl?"

Both the others gaped at him. "You didn't." Wally said after a moment.

"I did. Rule three is to never leave home without a utility belt, but when we're headed anywhere outside of Gotham, Bruce insists on us taking a full uniform too - mine's in my backpack."

"My costume's in my bedroom."

"Same here, but I can go get it and be back in a-"

"If you say 'back in a flash', West, I swear I'll duct tape you to the ceiling and it can just be me and Kara who go out."

The speedster sheepishly ducked his head. "Sorry. Habit from Uncle Barry. I'll go get my suit, then." He vanished from the room in a blur, leaving the other two to go change. By the time Robin and Supergirl returned to the living room, Kid Flash had beaten them there, idly tapping his foot at superspeed as he leaned against a chair. "So! How are we getting out of here without revealing any secrets?"

"Kal and I usually sneak up to the roof and take off from there." Kara pointed out.

"Great! Let's go!" Less than a minute later, the trio of brightly colored kids had taken off - Supergirl flying and holding onto KF as Robin used his grappling lines. They headed downtown, keeping above the rooftops, but still waving to the occasional civilian who spotted them. Then the three of them landed in the square in front of Metropolis' biggest library, deciding where to go and what to do first.

"The park's really pretty, even if it is still mostly covered over with snow this time of year," Supergirl suggested, her Kryptonian blood unaffected by the chill of late winter.

"Bleh, who wants to go see nature?" Kid Flash pulled a face. "Isn't there an aviation museum or something around here?"

"Yeah, outside the industrial district. But, I'm not sure they'd let us inside as superheroes."

"That's probably true for most places around here, and we were planning on going and seeing them as civilians anyway."

"What about a game of tag? Full powers and tools allowed." The boys blinked at their friend, before grinning in agreement.

"Okay, but no going out further than a five block radius around this point, and you have to wait in place ten seconds after being tagged to go after someone else." Robin threw in.

"Agreed!"

"Alright then, KF, you're it!" The redhead's jaw dropped as Supergirl laughed and then flew off, Robin taking to the skies just a moment after her.

"So not fair," he muttered, just then noticing the stares of various people standing around nearby. "What? You folks have never seen some kids play a game of tag before?" Ten seconds were up, and he blurred away, heading in the direction he'd seen the Gotham bird go. Slowly, the crowd returned to their own business, quite a few chuckling over the thought of young superheroes still acting their age in public.

There was one man, though, who hurried away from the scene to a quiet alley in order to call his boss. "Call off the heist. The Superbrat's got friends in town - and if we can catch them, we'll be in for a bigger score than some crummy old museum pieces..."

-C-

It was a quiet day for the Rogues of Central City. No jobs planned, no prison escapes to go through with, just the seven of them enjoying some off time.

Hartley Rathaway, the Pied Piper, was idly scrolling through some social media on his computer off to one side. Captain Cold and Golden Glider, the Snart siblings Leonard and Lisa, were going over the plans of a building that held a thriving jewelry store, making the initial notes for a heist they might pull the following week. Over on the sofa, Heatwave, or Mick Rory as he was out of costume, was taking a nap, his snores irritating but not reaction worthy to the man sitting beside his sprawled figure. Digger Harkness, also known as Captain Boomerang, focused on polishing his assorted weapons, firmly telling himself that a mere bodily function wasn't cause enough to push his friend off of the sofa. At the back of the room, Weather Wizard and Mirror Master, or Mark Mardon and Sam Scudder, were discussing theories of how to store a lightning bolt inside a mirror for delayed action release.

And then, the peace and quiet was thoroughly disturbed when their eighth and youngest member slammed open the front door and dashed inside.

"Piper! Turn it on, quick!" James Jesse, the Trickster, hollered excitedly.

"Turn _what_ on, J- hey!" Hartley protested as his laptop was rudely pulled away, the younger teen already hurriedly typing something in.

"What's goin' on?" Mick growled, yawning as he started to wake up from his nap. The yawn turned into an undignified yelp as James jumped up to sit on his midsection. "Hey! Off!"

"The Baby's over in Metropolis, playing with his friends! It's so cute!" Trickster snickered, completely ignoring Heatwave's growling. The grown man reluctantly stilled when Cold glared at him, the other thief walking over.

"What's got you in such a state, James?" To answer, Trickster turned the computer around so everyone could press in close and see. On the screen was an enlarged picture of Kid Flash, Supergirl, and Robin - all standing in downtown Metropolis, _in broad daylight,_ with a note at the bottom saying that witnesses claimed overhearing the three planning a super-powered game of tag through the city streets.

"You've got to be kidding me," Sam shook his head in disbelief. "Those pipsqueaks are setting themselves up to attract every crook from Metropolis to Gotham with a grudge against the Bat or the Kryptonian."

"Think they might be doin' it on purpose? Everyone says the Bat and his partners are clever - they could be doin' this t' draw out a specific target." Digger pointed out, but Lisa was already shaking her head.

"Can you honestly say you'd see Flasher agreeing to sign his kid up as live bait?" The woman questioned him.

"Eh... Fair 'nuff."

"So that just begs the question, what are we gonna do about it?" Mark asked carefully, causing all of the Rogues to glance about amongst themselves. Eventually, Cold sighed, and the rest of them could all tell what _that_ meant.

"Hell... And here I thought I'd be able to catch up on some more sleep today." Mick muttered, still being sat on by James, who was looking more excited by the second.

"Trickster, go get that special communicator of yours - tell Baby Flash he and his friends are invited over."

"Ya-hoo!" The fifteen year old bellowed, driving the air out of Heatwave as he lept off the sofa and made a beeline for his bedroom.

"You sure inviting a couple of hero-kids from other cities to Central is a good idea?" Lisa muttered to her older brother, who sighed again.

"If their parents try to give us a piece of their minds over it, I'll point out that it was safer than letting those pipsqueaks run loose elsewhere."

"Let's hope they listen long enough to understand that..."


	42. Episode 8: Trio of Troublemakers, Part 2

Half an hour into playing tag, Kid Flash had been It four times, Supergirl twice, and Robin only once. With the dreaded title hanging over his head yet again, KF was determined to get the Gotham bird or else give up. For the only one out of their trio who didn't have powers, it was proving _ridiculously _hard to catch the smaller kid.

As he sped up a fire escape to get to the top of a building he thought Robin might be hiding on top of, the redhead heard one of his two communicators beeping. The one in his left pocket was what he used to keep in touch with Flash or call other heroes, but it was the other device that had an incoming call - the one he'd gotten from his friend Jesse a few weeks into being Kid Flash.

"Trickster?"

_*Baby Flash! Why are you and your friends playing in Metropolis instead of with me and Piper?*_

"Uh, well, we're just killing time until Superman gets back, he was supposed to show us around the city."

_*Hmph. That town's boring. You three ought to come back to Central!*_

"Well, maybe, I dunno if the others would want t- hey, wait a minute! How'd you know we were hanging out in Metropolis, anyway?"

Trickster cackled over the communicator. _*You're picture's up on the internet!*_

"...Crap. Flash is gonna kill me." KF rubbed at his face. "Actually, _Bats_ is gonna kill me, right after I get the lecture from Superman."

_*Well, that's why you guys should come over here, then you can blame it all on us.*_

"Thanks, Trickster. I'll ask Rob and SG if they wanna-" Gunshots rang out from the alley below him and the thirteen year old hurried to look. "Uh-oh, duty calls. I'll get back to you later!" Ignoring his friend's protests, Kid Flash clicked off the device, then hurried back down the way he'd come. He reached the alley in record time and knocked away the gunman who was standing over a fallen pedestrian.

"Don't you know better than to pull a crime when there are superheroes around?" KF taunted him as the guy slowly got back to his feet, weapon tossed away.

"Don't _you_ know better than to play in broad daylight, runt?" Suddenly, a net dropped over the redhead, one made of metal mesh. Before he could pull it off, the thing sparked to life with a voltage that had Kid Flash on the ground and screaming in pain.

"Quick, shut him up!" The biggest of the six men ordered his flunkies. "We still need to get ready for the-"

"Kid!" Dual laser beams shot down, keeping the crooks away from the injured teen while cutting the electrical cord connected to the net. Supergirl landed with eyes still glowing red, even as KF's screams dropped away to whimpers. "Don't you _touch _him!"

Three of the men rushed her, while another fumbled to open a box he pulled from his pocket. Their leader cursed under his breath, grabbed the box and ran up to the pint-sized Kryptonian just as she threw off the last of his flunkies.

As soon as it was opened in her direction, Supergirl sagged, her eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to stay awake. But the purple light, it was just so... so... hn...

"Damn," the biggest man said in awe as the girl dropped down, apparently asleep. "Guess that creep really knew what he was talking about with the mystic mumbo-jumbo. C'mon, let's get these two squared away before we look for the bird brat."

"Okay, b- augh!" All of them whipped around just in time to see one of their number fall the ground, his torso and legs wrapped in steel wire. A child's laugh rang out, and then another man was dropped from a red and yellow projectile striking him in the head. Before the remaining four could regroup, smoke exploded into the alley, setting them all to stumbling about and cursing.

The leader managed to get clear of the smoke, nearly stepping on the barely-conscious Kid Flash as he did so. Realizing there would only be one way out of this, he pulled the boy up, grabbing his gun at the same time.

When Robin finished off the goons and left the patch of rapidly clearing smoke, he froze upon seeing the pistol resting against KF's skull. The man holding his friend grinned.

"Good birdie. Now, you're going to turn around and start walking back to our van, unless you want the ginger here to suddenly have his brains blown out. Got it?"

Growling softly, Rob nodded, pivoting on his heel. Once hidden by his cape, the boy's hands immediately went to his belt, pulling out a pair of batarangs for use the first moment Wally wasn't in danger.

A sudden grunt and pair of thumps had him whirling around again, weapons at the ready only to freeze for a second time.

Three vaguely familiar figures in ordinary clothes had appeared out of nowhere - two older teens and a grown man, all male. The adult was shaking his hand out as he looked down at the would-be kidnapper with distaste, while the other two were holding onto Kid Flash and checking him over worriedly.

"What did these guys use, a taser?" The dark haired one demanded. His slightly younger, blonde companion kicked at a severed cable on the ground.

"Electrified net, more like. Bullies! I oughta get 'em all with my snot gun!" And with that, something clicked in Robin's head.

"...Trickster?" He asked, slowly moving to where Supergirl was asleep, a glowing box open on the ground in front of her.

The blonde glanced over at him and grinned. "Well, whaddya know, Baby Flash talked about us to his friends!"

"Don't you pipsqueaks know better than to be running around in costume when there _isn't_ a day that needs saving?" The adult man asked sourly, giving Robin another name to work with.

"Mirror Master-!"

"Yes, yes, I know we've met, but I hope you won't hold our previous encounter against me." The guy's lips twisted into a humorless smile. "That was just business, after all."

Gritting his teeth, Robin forced himself not to argue. "Why are you all here?"

"We wanted to invite the Baby and you lot over to Central to play with us," Trickster explained, before his cheerful expression darkened. "But when we were talking, there were gunshots and Baby Flash hung up on me, so I got Mirror and Piper to help me come find him!"

"And a good thing we did, too, or you three might not have had a chance for any more playdates for a long while." The third Rogue said dryly.

"I had it under control." Robin growled, causing the other to snort in disbelief.

"Sure you did, kid. Now, either you can toddle off to whichever of your mentors is closest, or you can come with us back to Central, where at least your friends will get some medical attention."

He frowned. "Supergirl's just asleep, and KF heals pretty quick, I don't see why we'd have to-"

Mirror Master interrupted him with a sign. "Look, you clearly know that off a job, we don't bear any ill-will to the Baby here, or Flasher. We're willing to extend that to you two as well, since you're both kids as well as friends of mister runs-into-walls here. Do you want to come somewhere relatively safe, or stay where any crooks who happened to hear about your game of 'tag' can come take a shot at ya?"

Biting his lip nervously, Robin went ahead and pulled Supergirl's arm over his shoulder, hoisting the unconscious girl to her feet. "Alright, _fine_. Let's go."


	43. Episode 8: Trio of Troublemakers, Part 3

When the mirror in the corner of their base's main room flickered, the other Rogues knew that their fellow members must have been successful, or at the very least allayed Trickster's fears after hearing the gunshots over Kid Flash's communicator.

So it was quite a surprise when Sam walked through with a grim expression, the familiar redhead cradled in his arms and moaning softly. Immediately behind the man came James, uncharacteristically quiet. But the biggest surprise was the Gotham bird, supporting an out cold Kryptonian against him. Hartley finished off the little parade, keeping close to the pair of children in case his friend's weight ended up being too much for the dark-haired boy.

"What happened?" Len was the first to snap, hurrying to clear a space on the second sofa for Sam to put their Baby Flash down.

"Let's just say I was right when I figured these idiots were setting themselves up to attract all sorts of unsavory types," the man muttered, stepping back to allow Mark forward, since the Weather Wizard was the only one of them with more than basic medical knowledge. In the meantime, Lisa had joined Hartley in dealing with the two other-city kids, guiding the bird over to another chair once he finally set his Metropolis friend down where she'd be out of the way.

"Some goons got KF's attention, and threw an electrified net over him." Robin started to explain. "Supergirl had cut the power to it and started fighting them when I got there. Then one of the guys used this magic doo-dad to put her to sleep, so I jumped down. Took five of them out on my own-"

"But while he was distracted, the big guy put a gun to the Baby's head and threatened to shoot him if bird boy here didn't do as instructed." Hartley said sourly, causing every Rogue in the room to stiffen in anger.

"I hope you showed the blighter why that was a _bad _idea." Digger growled.

"Didn't have time. Cops were already on their way 'cause of the gunshots. We were barely able to convince _this_ one," Sam jerked a thumb at the scowling Robin. "To come with us through the storefront mirror before they showed up."

"Can you blame me?" The kid shook his head in irritation. "The Arkham loonies aren't exactly the kinds of people I'd trust, and it's because of Mirror Master that I once got stuck inside my reflection for two hours!"

The other Rogues looked to their frowning member in confusion, before Mick snapped his fingers. "I remember. You tried to pull that ransom scheme over in Gotham a couple years back."

Sam sighed. "Yes. It was right after that that Smoke figured she'd look elsewhere for work, and I decided to stick solely to Central. People might not be as rich here, but at least jobs are simpler to pull."

"What made you crazy enough to try your luck in _Gotham _of all places?" Lisa asked with a mixture of bewilderment and amusement.

"The money, of course." He sighed. "And, the suggestion of a dignified type who thought I might have better luck going up against a hero who wasn't familiar with my methods."

Hartley snorted. "Please. Flasher might know you, but we also know _him._ Trying to pull something like that against the _Bat,_ who is possibly even more insane than the Arkham lot he fights? That's just a bad bet all around. No offense intended of course." He directed this last bit to Robin, who surprisingly gained something resembling a smirk for half a second.

"None taken. That's half the reason the crooks in Gotham are all afraid of us, anyway." Mick looked at the kid curiously.

"Afraid of _you?_ I don't think so, pipsqueak." The man scoffed.

"Took down those five guys in the alley all by myself, didn't I? No powers or back-up or anything."

Hartley glowered at him. "Oh, sure, you handled that perfectly fine. Which is why you were limping to entire trip here." The bird boy instantly stiffened.

"I was not!" Even as he protested, though, Robin shifted in his seat, trying to use his cape to cover up his right leg without the Rogues noticing.

They did anyway.

Sighing, Mark stood from where he'd finished determining that Baby Flash just needed to rest to get over his shock, and headed towards the Gotham bird.

"You're going to let me see, or else I'll have Trickster cover you from head to toe in wrapping paper and ribbons, and then I'll be able to check the injury anyway." He warned. Robin continued to glare.

"I've gone up against Joker's pranks, you're not gonna scare me with _wrapping paper,_" the kid muttered rebelliously, even as he pulled the cape away and turned slightly, revealing the long, narrow gash across his thigh, where one of the goons had gotten lucky with his switchblade. While Mark set about cleaning what was really little more than an ugly paper cut, Digger leaned over to look and let out a low whistle.

"Dang, how'd you manage t' walk on that with only a limp?" The Australian asked, impressed, to which the kid shrugged.

"I've had worse." He answered simply. A response which had Len scowling ferociously.

"Damn heroes," he snarled. "They're supposed to be the goody-two shoes who keep kids like you _out_ of trouble, not put you on a collision course with it!"

"Hey! Batman didn't encourage me _or_ Batgirl to get into this life - we both did it to help people, and both times Batman would've been in serious trouble if neither of us had stepped up."

"Initial permission issue aside, he hasn't forced either one of you _out _yet."

"Because we're good at what we do, and would keep doing it whether or not he taught us how to take care of ourselves." Robin crossed his arms and glared right back at Len, neither of them flinching or looking away, a feat which had the other Rogues' estimations of the kid go up a few notches.

Then everyone became distracted by the beeping of a comm unit from the bird's utility belt. Sighing, like he already knew what was coming, Robin pulled it out and flicked the thing on, Mark taking a respectful few steps back.

"Hey, Bats- yeah, I know about it _now,_ we were just- Superman was called away for a bit, and KF got bored, so since we didn't know how long we were going to be waiting- yes, I _know_ it was stupid, but we were fine for a while- no we aren't in Metropolis anymore- just let me- no, some of Central City's Rogues saw the picture, and- no they _didn't_ there was a fight with some other guys, they took down Kid and Supergirl- yeah, I'm fine, I almost got 'em- well, one put a gun to KF's head, but then the Rogues showed up and long story short we're at their base- no, it's fine, really, Kid's hurt but they've already checked him, and Supergirl's still asleep- magic, not kryptonite- I think we're good. Yeah. Okay, hold on-" Covering the phone-like communicator with his hand, Robin looked up at them expectantly. "Are you guys planning on giving me and Supergirl lifts home after this through that mirror world thing, or does my boss need to come get us with Superman right behind him?"

The Bat and Kryptonian coming to their town in a potential parental fury? Yeah, no. "You'll get a lift." Len assured him, which the kid then repeated into his comm unit. When he finally hung up, it was with a weary sigh, right as the boy flopped back into his seat.

"He might not have been very good at the parent thing at first, but Batman _sure _has got the angered nagging thing down by now." Robin groaned, and the exasperated look on his face had several of the Rogues stifling chuckles. James, though, appeared confused.

"You mean the Bat isn't your dad?"

"No, he's my foster-father. The first thing I did as Robin was help bring my real parents' murderer to justice." The subject was promptly dropped, though the adults in the room couldn't help but wonder if that statement meant they should be more or less comfortable with a kid fighting crime in one of the country's most dangerous cities.

Something to worry about later.

In the meantime, there was a young Kryptonian waking up.


	44. Episode 8: Trio of Troublemakers, Part 4

Supergirl groaned, forcing her eyes to flutter open. "Wha' happ'n'd?" She muttered sleepily, the question turning into a yawn as she stretched.

"KF went down under that net, the bad guys put you to sleep with some magic thing, and then some of Flash's Rogues showed up to give us a hand." Supergirl started to nod at Robin's explanation, up until the actual words sank in. Then her eyes snapped open as far as they would go, and in an instant the Kryptonian girl was floating ten feet in the air, ready to dash into battle.

She wasn't expecting to see Robin sitting on a plush chair, Kid Flash stretched out on a sofa, and eight people of varying ages in civilian outfits standing or sitting around watching her warily.

"You plannin' on stayin' up there, sheila, or are ya gonna come down here t' talk like an average person?" One brunette man asked mildly. Seeing that neither of her friends appeared to be in danger, Supergirl carefully descended, settling on the ground beside Robin's chair.

"These are the people that Kid's talked about before?" She asked cautiously, gaze flicking from one Rogue to another constantly.

"Yep. And surprisingly, I think he wasn't exaggerating at all."

The lone woman in the room raised an eyebrow at Robin's response. "Oh? Dare we ask what tales the Baby's been passing on?"

"Mostly stuff about how nice you guys are outside of a fight - does Pied Piper really give him homework help?"

"Only when he's utterly stumped with something and Flasher's busy." The dark haired teen answered curtly.

Another man snickered. "And the hard part isn't even getting him to understand it, but to just get the brat to sit still long enough to do his work!" The other Rogues all made noises of agreement while Robin and Supergirl exchanged bemused looks.

"We are _so _teasing him about this later, aren't we?"

"Duh."

-C-

Despite the reassuring conversation he had with Robin, as soon as the boy hung up, Batman set about activating the tracking device in his utility belt, along with the ones he'd implanted into Supergirl and Kid Flash's uniforms without their respective guardians' knowledge. He might trust Clark and Barry as heroes out to do the right thing, but there was no way he'd ever fully trust their abilities at keeping the kids out of trouble.

Dick alone was too highly skilled for that.

Sure enough, all three tracers came up in Central City, specifically from a warehouse on the south side of town, in the more run-down district. From what he knew of Flash's Rogues, Batman didn't think the kids were in any true danger - to their health, anyway. But he wasn't inclined in the slightest to leave his foster son around professional thieves any longer than absolutely necessary.

With actual coordinates on hand, the last thing he had to do before leaving was make sure both Flash and Superman knew what their partners had gotten up to. And that Kryptonian had better be able to supply a _very_ good reason for why he left the three kids alone, or Batman would be pulling out the kryptonite gun again...

-C-

Clark was just emailing the final draft of the article to his superior when a message came in for him from an account address he recognized as one of Bruce's. Curious, the reporter went ahead and opened it up - only for his jaw to promptly drop.

"Hey, Smallville!" Jerking his head up, Clark minimized the (very ticked off) email from Bruce just as Lois walked up to his desk. "Have you heard about the superhero kids playing downtown?"

"Uh, just a minute ago, why?"

"Perry wants a special done on it for tomorrow morning's edition, and I thought I'd give you first dibs since you're the one who wrote up that exclusive on the Justice League last month."

"Well, I appreciate that Lois, I really do," he fumbled as he stood, grabbing his coat and hat. "But I left my baby cousin and her friends back at my apartment, and they're probably bored out of their minds by now, so I really ought to be heading out."

Lois looked surprised for a moment. "Why didn't you bring them up here? You know the staff all adore Kara-"

"Which I thought about, but the couple of boys she's close to aren't the best at behaving themselves in someone else's work environment. So, I'd better go - good luck on that story!" And with that, Clark fled, not looking back and therefore not catching the contemplative look Lois sent after him. She started to head back to her own desk, before noticing Smallville forgot to log off his computer.

-C-

The security footage was ridiculously easy to procure, giving him undeniable proof that the three children had left Metropolis in the company of the Rogues, meaning that they were now undoubtedly somewhere in Central City.

Those small-time simpletons may prove more useful than originally anticipated, Vandal Savage mused. Mirror Master had certainly made himself an ample distraction that one occasion in Gotham when a certain museum piece needed to be retrieved without the Bat's interference, after all. Perhaps he'd be able to play the group once more, and still gain three young, impressionable heroes to hand over to his expert mind-manipulator.

Because if there was one thing Savage had learned in all his eons on this planet, it was that a foe forced to combat their own child was one half defeated already.


	45. Episode 8: Trio of Troublemakers, Part 5

"...So the Boy Scout actually _left_ you three _alone?"_ Mark shared an incredulous look with Digger. "I know he might be an alien, but is the man _insane?"_

"Well, he did volunteer to put up with us for an entire day," Kid Flash pointed out from where he was currently sitting upright on the sofa. "You decide whether he's crazy or not."

All the Rogues considered that in silence for a moment before deciding, yes, the Man of Steel definitely had a few screws loose.

Once the young redhead had woken up a little while before, feeling much better but rather hungry, Hartley and Mick had ducked out for pizza, bringing back enough for all ten people plus a growing speedster. Everyone snagged a piece or two (or a couple boxes in the Kid's case), then settled back into their prefered seats, and allowed the storytelling to commence.

So far, they'd covered Robin's first adventures with both Supergirl and Kid Flash, some of the earliest Rogue heists go bad, the explanation behind the heroes' disappearances for a couple days when the War World showed up, and finally a more in-depth explanation of how the three kids wound up playing tag in downtown Metropolis.

"We were okay by ourselves for the first hour or so, but then _someone_ announced that he was bored." At Robin's words, all eyes swung to KF, who was suddenly very interested in studying the multitude of crumbs he'd scattered across his lap and the sofa cushions.

"Now why does that not surprise me?" Len drawled, familiar smirk making its customary appearance.

"Hey, I managed to keep quiet for a whole hour, thank you very much!"

"If that's your upper limit for sitting still, how do you even make it through the school day?" Kara wondered, causing her friend to splutter indignantly as the Rogues laughed.

The cheerful attitude was instantly wiped away, though, when the security system started beeping. All at once, the villains were all up and moving - Len, Mick, Sam, and Digger getting their weapons, Lisa and Mark checking the outdoor cameras, while Hartley and James took all three of the startled kids to the back saferoom.

"Guys..." Lisa called out in a worried tone. "Screens are only showing one guy coming up the road, but he's big and well-dressed."

"Businessman type?" Len asked, pulling up the hood of his parka.

"More like European nobility, I think. Aw, crap. He just looked straight at the camera and grinned."

"That's bad. Gotta be a meta." Digger groaned.

"Or someone coming to offer us a job."

"Right as we've got a trio of hero-brats here? I don't think so, Sam. Coincidence is too big."

"Len's right, who knows who saw you three get the kids? It might just be one guy, but I think we're definitely about to have a fight on our hands." Mark stated.

"Well then, let's go find out for sure, shall we?" Len snapped out the orders. "Digger, Mick, in front with me. Sam, Mark, both of you are going to be on either side of the confrontation, ready to set off a distraction or evacuation, whichever is needed. Lisa, I want you to go tell the kids what's going on, and stay with them in case a hasty exit needs to be made."

"You just want me out of the firing line, you jerk."

"Big brotherly prerogative. Besides, you're the best with James and the Baby besides Hartley, and I think the other two might listen to you better than any of the rest of us." A little of the tension went out of Len's shoulders as his sister reluctantly nodded, grabbing her own gun and heading to the saferoom. "Alright, now let's go see exactly what our _guest _wants."

-C-

It had admittedly taken him a bit longer than expected to find this place, but Vandal Savage was nothing if not a patient man. He'd already had a vague notion of where these 'Rogues' spent their down time, and basically allowed himself to wander the area until spotting the security cameras on various dilapidated buildings. Following the trail, he finally reached a storage building with upstairs loft space, and even with the disguised elements to make it appear like any other nearby structure, Savage could see the tell-tale details of shielding and reinforcement put into place.

Perhaps not as grand a base of operations as _he_ was used to, but for gutter rats it was exceptionally well-crafted. And speaking of the lesser classes...

A trio of grim-faced men appeared from around the side of the building, matching the descriptions he'd received of Captain Cold, Heatwave and Captain Boomerang. Such uninspired names. Still, Savage forced himself to put on a civil face - it wouldn't do to antagonize his potential pawns just yet.

"Good day to you, Captain." He called out as the trio approached, Cold in the lead, as was befitting his supposed position as head of the group.

"What do you want?" The man glowered at him, clearly unimpressed. Well, that was to be expected.

"My name is Vandal Savage, and I have a proposition for you. I'm aware that you were able to successfully snatch the three children from downtown Metropolis where others had failed - an excellent coup, if I do say so myself."

"And yer point, mate?" The other Captain crossed his arms.

Savage's fake grin widened into something a bit more genuine. "While I'm sure you wish to hold onto the sidekick of your own hero as a hostage, I wondered if you'd be willing to exchange the other two to me; I have access to quite a few old-world jewels and artifacts I'm sure you'd be interested in. Or perhaps a mutual favor sometime in the future is more to your liking."

The low growl that met his ears wasn't expected in the slightest.

"Let's make one thing very clear here, Mister Savage," Cold snarled at him. "We might be thieves and crooks, but we aren't monsters. We don't hurt kids, don't take 'em hostage, and we sure as hell don't hand 'em over to the likes of you, no matter _what_ the offered price is."

"And do your _companions_ feel the same?"

Both Boomerang and Heatwave stepped up to stand alongside Cold, their weapons - previously held non-threateningly at their sides - now up and pointing directly at Savage. "Damn straight we do." The one with the flamethrower stated.

Realizing that maybe it was time to pull out the tactic of shaming them into agreeing, Savage allowed his grin to morph into the sneer he'd felt building all along.

"Please!" He laughed at them. "You 'thieves and crooks' are _exactly_ the type of people always looking to make a quick payday, not matter the job or deal. Your Mirror Master already proved that when I convinced him to go to Gotham to serve my own purposes."

If possible, Cold's jaw tightened even further. "So, you're the one responsible for that. What do you mean, your own purposes?"

"I needed someone to distract the Bat for me, of course. Just as I need those children for the same. And I don't plan on leaving without them, so you'd best name your price before I decide to take all three without any payment to you whatsoever." After a moment, Cold nodded, and Savage thought he'd won - but that was before a curious clacking noise came from behind him.

Then a lighting bolt smashed into the ground directly before his position, and Savage couldn't help but to step back: straight into the mirror that had been dropped directly behind his feet. Unable to stop his fall, the man wound up landing on his backside within a world of never-ending stairs and portal faces.

In the outside world, Sam and Mark joined the other three, all of them wearing matching expressions of distaste. "Think anyone would mind if I just shattered him?" Their master of mirrors grimaced.

"Probably," Len sighed. "We'll dump him somewhere outside the city after nightfall, and have Piper wipe his mind about this."

"See, _this _is why we should've sent the other two pipsqueaks home right from the get-go." Mick complained.

"I agree." Came a dark voice that had all five Rogues freezing where they stood.


	46. Episode 8: Trio of Troublemakers, Part 6

"Are they gonna be much longer, you think?" KF asked, practically vibrating in place with how nervous he was.

"They'll be fine, Baby Flash." Lisa assured him, though she wasn't entirely sure of that herself. It has been almost ten minutes since the alarm first went off, and none of the guys had yet reappeared. Sometimes she _really_ hated her brother's overprotective streak when it came to keeping her out of obvious danger.

Pulling heists and fighting Flasher were alright, but when it came to anything else sometimes it seemed like Len wanted her inside a layer of bubble wrap.

A quiet knock came at the hidden door to the saferoom, in the proper pattern to indicate everything was fine. Lisa went ahead and undid the locks, pulling open the door with a grin.

"About time, what took you so- long?" The woman gulped as she took in the dark, imposing standing just behind a very nervous Weather Wizard. Before Lisa could lift her gun and fire, a small figure squeezed out between her and the doorframe.

"Batman!" Robin grinned. "What are you doing here?"

"Retrieving you," the Gotham hero replied. "Are you hurt?"

"I said before, I'm _fine, _did you really not believe me?"

"I didn't know whether or not whether you were saying that with a gun to your head."

"Oh, honestly." Lisa huffed crossing her arms. "Hasn't Flash told the rest of you goody goody heroes _we don't hurt kids."_

Batman leveled a look at her, and the Rogue promptly shut her mouth. After getting his point across, the Gotham hero turned and strode back to the main room, Robin at his heels and Supergirl flying after them. Baby Flash, James and Hartley followed a bit more slowly, with Lisa bringing up the rear.

The rest of the Rogues were out in their main gathering place, all looking a tad shaken but uninjured. Not a single one of them got in the way of the Batman leaving, though the man himself paused at the exit, only two of the three kids beside him.

"Kid Flash, are you coming?"

The Baby glanced around for a moment, debating. "Nah. I'm fine here. Rob, SG, see you guys next week?"

"Bye, Kid!"

"See ya, KF!"

With a mildly disapproving grunt, Batman returned to his departure. As soon as he and the others had left, Baby Flash heaved a sigh of relief.

"Why didn't you go with them?" James asked him.

"I don't think the Bat likes me very much." The redhead admitted. "I'd rather stay with you guys until Unc- er, until Flash gets off work, rather than go wait in Gotham. Besides, there _really _isn't room for more than a pilot and two passengers in that guy's plane!"

The Rogues let out chuckles, a couple of them coming over to ruffle the kid's hair.

Outside, Supergirl was delighted to see her cousin hovering next to the Batplane with an apologetic expression on his face.

"Kal!" She exclaimed, flying up to hug him.

"I'm so sorry for everything that went wrong today kiddo, I promise I'll try to make it up to you-"

"Are you kidding? Today was awesome!" Supergirl immediately launched into an in-depth detailing of the fun things she'd done with the boys, and then all the funny stories the Rogues and shared with them. "And we got pizza, too!"

Robin snickered as he and Batman hopped into the plane. "Oh, she's not gonna stop talking about today for _hours."_

"Better him than us, then." His mentor remarked, firing up the engines and the thrusters. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Perfectly fine, Bruce. But thanks for worrying."

"Hmph."


	47. Author's Interlude 8

Dang. Did I really manage to whip this episode out in barely more than a week? That's got to be a new record for me. Well, let's see if I can manage to keep it up a while longer, shall we?

Next episode is going to be Convention, in which we meet the civilian ID's of quite a few future characters - some good, some bad. I can't wait to see who makes the right guesses about these upcoming folks... /sly grin

Until next time, folks!

-Triscribe


	48. Episode 9: Convention, Part 1

Dick let out a low whistle of awe as he and Bruce walked into the massive building where the Space Exploration and Technology Convention was being held. "Daaang. Barbara is going to be _so_ mad she missed this."

"You'll just have to make sure to tell her all about it later, then." His father father grinned at the expression on the boy's face.

Completely filling a hall several city blocks long were numerous displays on the progress humanity had made in terms of reaching beyond Earth over the last couple decades. Some were donated by various national governments with space programs of their own, others came from companies like Wayne Enterprises that were funding private ventures into off-world economics - there were even some high level school projects from people in college down to the eighth grade.

And, of course, there were several superheroes with inter-planetary ties present to give talks about their own technology and homeworlds.

Green Lantern was down at the far end, using his ring to create large diagrams of some of the more populated Sectors and explain how some races made it their mission to find backwater planets to conquer for their resources (such as Earth). A bit closer, the Martian Manhunter was making a small speech about the delight many people on his home planet had in regards to the television broadcasts which managed to traverse the distance between their two worlds. Supergirl had pretty much taken over the talk about Krypton, passing on similarities and differences between her original and current culture while her cousin hovered in the background. The pair of Hawks, on the other hand, were in the process of turning their discussion into an argument between each other over the finer points of Thanagarian technology.

"So!" Dick grinned, rubbing his hands together. "Who do I get to go pester first?"

Before Bruce had a chance to tell him otherwise, a familiar voice was calling out their names, and the pair turned to see Oliver Queen and Roy Harper approaching them.

"Bet you're surprised to see us here!" The other business tycoon chuckled as he drew closer. In reality, all the members of the League who weren't giving talks at the convention had agreed to come as civilians, just in case something went wrong. But as such, they had to pretend to be unaware of one another for the public's sake.

"Ollie! I wasn't aware Queen Industries was interested in space technology." Bruce smiled as they shook hands, Dick quickly giving Roy a fist bump.

"Yeah, well we're always looking for new fields to invest in. Don't suppose you have any suggestions?" Oliver winked.

"I can probably think of a few... Dick! Stay in sight, please." The twelve year old sighed, slinking back over from where he'd been about to disappear in the crowd.

"If you want, Mr. Wayne, I can keep an eye on the pipsqueak for you." Roy offered. "Especially if you and Ollie are about to start talking business."

"Thanks, Roy, I'd appreciate that. Think you two could meet us back here by five so we can head to dinner?"

"Sure thing."

"Thanks Bruce!" The pair immediately took off, eager to get away from their guardians for a bit.

Ollie leaned over a bit so as to mutter for Bruce's ears alone. "You've got good security around this place, right?"

"Along with the numerous government agents and hired muscle from other companies. Everyone who come in has to undergo even tighter security than entering an airport, Ollie. They'll be fine."

"Alright."

"And you know that if anything _big_ happens, every single one of us is here and ready for action."

"Alright, okay, but can you blame me for worrying?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at the anxiety in his friend's tone.

"Something happen to have you even more on edge lately?"

"It's, ah..." Ollie ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. Roy's not nearly as shook up by it as I was, but still... For the last several nights, there've been some break-ins committed only halfway through, with the crooks long gone by the time Arrow and Speedy show up. Each time, I've felt like someone was watching us. Then, last night, we finally managed to catch the guys in action. One of them bolted, and Roy went after him while I handled the other three. By the time I took 'em down and went to catch up with him, the kid was fighting a guy who definitely _wasn't_ one of the crooks. And he was losing pretty bad."

"Who was it?"

"Dunno. All I really was able to see was a lot of muscle, a sword, and a mask made for only one eye - the other half was just blank. He ended up breaking Roy's bow before grabbing the kid and throwing him into me. Then, and this is the part that's been getting to me, he said 'Pitiful. Seems I'll have to find proper fighting material elsewhere.' And then he just vanished, almost as well as you do."

Bruce's eyes narrowed, and he casually led Oliver off to a slightly more private spot, tucked away behind one of the exhibits. "This guy. Was his color scheme orange and black, with a lot of dark grey armor?"

"That's it exactly. You know who he is?"

"Not in any detail - I've only read a few reports on him - but it sounds like a high profile mercenary by the name of Deathstroke."

"A mercenary? What the heck was he doing in my city then, with my partner?"

"I don't know, but I promise I'll look into."

"Thanks..."

"In the meantime, try to relax a bit. No one's getting in or out of this place without passing through security, remember?"

"Right. Thanks, Bruce. Dinner's on me tonight, if you want."

"If that means you're buying, I'll take you up on it. If you're offering to _fix_ dinner, though-"

"One time! One time I set the kitchen on fire, and none of you ever let me live that story down!"

-C-

"Driver's license and ticket, please." The security guard glanced over both, before handing them back. "Enjoy your day at the convention, sir."

"Thank you, I intend to." Slade Wilson said smoothly, stepping past and heading toward the front doors. He could still just see the blonde and red hair of the pair he was currently following, and increased his steps slightly so as to catch up.

The last month of studying Star City's archer duo had proved interesting, even if the boy wasn't suitable for the kind of training Slade had in mind for an apprentice. Still, if both were attending a convention where other members of the Justice League were making public appearances, then perhaps they'd lead him to the identities of some other heroes as well...


	49. Episode 9: Convention, Part 2

Kyle looked around the convention center in awe. The sheer number of displays and kiosks would've been overwhelming in its own right, but coupled with the fact that _actual alien superheroes_ were in attendance - he was in heaven.

The teen had to remind himself of his priority checklist before he broke down into random looking and geeking out. Gripping the strap of his satchel a bit more tightly, Kyle headed over to the glowing green diorama that clearly marked where the Lantern was. He had to weasel his way through awed listeners in order to get to the front of the crowd, but the work was worth it.

Intently watching as Green Lantern went over the basics of common interstellar travel, Kyle's hands nonetheless pulled out his sketchpad and 2H pencil, his inner eye already laying out a composition. As the galactic policeman (or at least that's what he came across as) went on with his talk, the eighteen year old's pencil flew across the page, turning lines into shapes into proper images. He was still standing there, furiously scribbling in some shading, when the Lantern finished up and set the crowd to dispersing.

"Kinda surprised you're taking the time to draw it all out instead of just taking a picture," a sudden voice mentioned, causing Kyle to jerk his head up in surprise. Green Lantern himself was sitting on the edge of the stage just in front of the teen, looking at him with a bemused smirk.

"O-oh, well, I, um, that is-"

"What, never learned to use a camera?" The smirk widened into a teasing grin.

"N-no, I just, figured, that a-a drawing would be less i-irritating. To you. That is." Kyle stopped talking before he made an even bigger fool of himself.

The Lantern, meanwhile, had gone from a teasing expression to a thoughtful one. "That's pretty considerate of you, kid. Want me to sign it when you're done?"

"Oh!" Instantly, Kyle's eyes widened, and he tried to stammer out that it wasn't really necessary-

"Ah c'mon, I don't mind." A stream of green light left the man's ring, capturing both the sketchpad and a pen from where it was tucked in a pocket of the satchel. "Let's see here, 'To my considerate admirer-"

"K-kyle. Rayner."

"Kyle Rayner, best of luck with the art, Green Lantern.' There! That oughta impress the ladies, right?" He handed back the materials with a grin. Kyle was too shocked to respond, though a wide smile of his own appeared as he read over the autograph now situated just below his sketch of the superhero in mid-air, surrounded by the glowing lines of energy.

"This is- I- Thanka!" The teen finally blurted out, causing Lantern to laugh.

"Hey, no problem. Say, you think you'd be able to draw some of the others like that for me? Got some birthdays coming up and I'm usually at a loss for decent presents."

"Others?"

"Sure, the other Justice Leaguers." Kyle felt his jaw drop at the nonchalant-ness of that statement. "I'll make sure you get a good spot for it and everything."

"Y-yeah! Of course, I'd be happy to!"

"Sweet." Lantern grinned. "How much do you charge?"

-C-

"And we're here again why?" The dark-haired woman rolled her eyes as the teen beside her complained once again.

"Partly as extra security. Partly out of curiosity." She smirked. "Partly because I know you had nothing better to do." A light punch to her upper arm very clearly stated what the blonde teen thought of _that_ statement.

The pair were wandering down one side of the convention center, their gazes alternatively scanning the technological exhibits and the crowd around them. They'd been in the vigilante business long enough by this point to be able to spot threats fairly quickly. There might have been actual superheroes on hand, but Huntress and Tigress planned to be ready in the shadows should any trouble start up.

"Helena?" She glanced over at her partner.

"What, Artemis?"

"Does that guy look familiar to you at all?" The teen was looking in the direction of a middle aged man with white hair, sunglasses not quite hiding the patch over his right eye. Helena's gaze narrowed - Artemis was right, there was something familiar about the guy, but not in his coloring. No, it was something else... Then he started walking again, and the confident steps of a hunter snapped Helena's mind to the correct conclusion.

"Wilson." She hissed, causing her teen partner to stiffen in shock.

"What the hell is Deathstroke doing here?" A whisper it might have been, but the girl was clearly off-balance by the mercenary's arrival. He was one of her former father's crowd, a group of people she never wanted anything to do with again.

"Dunno. But we're going to find out." Carefully, the two ladies continued to head down the length of the hall, keeping the very dangerous man in their sights without attracting his attention. It was easier than either anticipated; clearly, Deathstroke had his sights zeroed in on something.

Artemis was the first to spot the pair of boys: one a redhead, tall, probably in his mid to late teens. The other was smaller, younger, dark hair slicked back. Neither was aware of the mercenary following their meandering path through the convention center.

"Crap," Helena muttered when she caught sight of the boys herself. "I know those two - foster sons of a couple different billionaires."

"Kidnapping and ransom in the works, then?"

"Not Deathstroke's style. We'll just have to keep watching, see what he's up to and whether we need to intervene or not." Her partner remained silent for a moment.

"It would be easier from up close," she finally said. "And no one would think twice about well-to-do heiress Helena Bertinelli introducing her young charge to a couple of upper class boys, now would they?"

"Have I mentioned how much I love the way you think, kiddo?"

"You could definitely stand to mention it more often."


	50. Episode 9: Convention, Part 3

"Is it just me, or do most of the spaceship models seem kind of dinky compared to War World?" Dick asked as he and Roy strolled past one of the government exhibits.

"Of course they do," the older boy replied. "But everybody's got to start somewhere, after all."

"Still, Earth's _clearly_ gonna have to work really hard if we're gonna catch up anytime soon." Dick's voice lowered a bit as they rounded another display. "He's still following us."

"Damn. I'd hoped we'd have lost the guy by now."

"You still have no idea who it is?"

"Nope." Roy answered grimly, despite the still pleasant expression he was wearing. "Which sadly also means I don't know if he'll make a move in here or not. Our best bet is to keep moving and stay in the crowds."

"Like I couldn't have figured that out myself-"

"Oh, Roy! Roy Harper, isn't it?" A woman's voice called out, causing both boys to pause and turn. Approaching them was a well-dressed lady Dick thought he recognized from some celebrity gatherings, who in turn had a sullen looking teen following her.

"Ms. Bertinelli," Roy grinned despite himself. This was one of the few millionaires Ollie knew whom the former street kid actually liked - something about her no-nonsense attitude in a class generally filled with snobs and sycophants.

"I didn't realize you were going to be here, Roy. Is Oliver around too?" Bertinelli smiled at them.

"Still off by the front entrance, last I checked, but that was a while ago. By the way, this is my friend Dick Grayson."

"Bruce Wayne's ward, I believe." Dick nodded, blinking as the woman shook his hand. He'd grown up learning to tell what kind of work a person did based off of their hands (he himself had the callouses of an acrobat, as had his parents), and Ms. Bertinelli was clearly not as high class as people were led to believe. Her grip was firm, with skin toughened by some form of constant hard work - not unlike Bruce's hands, come to think of it. "Oh, and this would be my own foster daughter, Artemis Crock."

"Hey." The blonde teen shook with both Roy and Dick, and again the younger boy noticed the same thing about her own hand.

"Hi. I think I saw an article about you two a little while ago."

"Yeah, Helena just took me in a couple of weeks back. Hell of a transition, know what I mean?"

"You mean going from wondering about your next meal to five-star food every day?" Roy rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah."

"I don't suppose you boys would mind if Artemis hung out with you for a while? She hasn't exactly hit it off with any of the other kids we meet on my business trips." Ms. Bertinelli explained with a bit of a bashful smile.

"Nah, we don't mind, do we Dickie?"

"Nope! It's hard to get along with the high society jerks, so we fosters need to stick together." The small boy grinned, causing the teens to snicker and Bertinelli to give them a grateful smile.

"Thanks, I'll call you later when I'm finished up, okay Artemis?"

"Yeah, that's fine." As soon as her guardian disappeared back into the crowd, the girl asked if her new acquaintances had any plans.

"We're mostly just wandering around." Roy told her, before grimacing slightly. "We, ah, actually have something of a tail at the moment. Older guy who won't stop following us around. Not sure if he's a news guy or something creepier, just so you know..."

Artemis' eyes widened. "Eyepatch dude with the white hair?"

"You've seen him?"

"Yeah. Helena told me to keep away from him, right before she spotted you two."

"Well then, I guess we get to pass on the lessons for Avoiding Stalkers 101." Dick gave her a sympathetic look. "Something we've both sadly had to learn since joining the upper class."

"You moved up in the world too, huh?"

"Oh yeah - I used to be in the circus..." They ended up discussing their various disconnects with the switch of social situations, continuing to meander through the convention center while keeping a surreptitious eye on their tail. For what was supposed to be something of a fun day, it was turning out to be more nerve-wracking than any of them had anticipated.

-C-

Slade was circling around a rocket ship display in order to gain a better angle for watching his prey when the woman appeared in front of him. She was a looker, certainly, dressed in a form fitting outfit that was nonetheless highly practical for movement.

The mercenary stiffened automatically before plastering a warm smile onto his face. "Lady Talia."

"Mr. Wilson." His new opponent purred, stepping close enough that she could speak to him without being heard by any passerby. "I don't suppose you care to inform me what you think you're doing here?"

"Looking for prospective apprentices," the man answered honestly, knowing that the daughter of the Demon's Head was too dangerous to lie to, even over something as serious as this.

"I suspected as much. Hence why I've decided to warn you, Wilson - hunt whoever you like, so long as they are not of Gotham."

His eyebrow went up at that. "Oh?"

"You clearly arrived in the wake of the Archers, hoping to find others of their kind." Talia whispered, leaning in close. "But my father and I have taken an interest in Gotham as of late, and we do not wish to attempt to enter a stirred up hornet's nest, if you will." Having already come to suspicion that the smaller of the two boys he was tailing was likely a partner of the Dark Knight, Slade was easily able to put together the hints he was being handed on a silver platter.

"Your warning is greatly appreciated, my Lady." He murmured back. "And I'll bend to your request, on this occasion."

She drew back slightly, her smile briefly morphing into something more predatory. "Don't feel so put out, Mr. Wilson - there is every possibility that, when we get what we want, a certain bird will need relocating. And should that indeed occur, I can promise you will be the first we contact for handling it."

The two assassins exchanged knowing looks, and then parted ways, each blending seamlessly back into the crowd of oblivious civilians.


	51. Episode 9: Convention, Part 4

"You think if recreational space flight becomes a luxury for rich people, we could convince the others to give us a free go?" Wally asked, head tilted back almost ninety degrees as he stared up at one of the models hanging from the ceiling.

"Kid, we get to teleport up to an actual space station," Barry said with no small amount of amusement. "That and the occasional trip in the Javelin aren't enough for you?"

"It's not the same!" Still looking upwards, Wally didn't notice when he inadvertently deviated from his uncle's side - not until he walked straight into another person.

"Oof!"

"Ouch! Watch it!"

"Wally?" The thirteen year old peered around the irritated girl he'd bumped into, and beamed upon spotting Dick and Roy.

"Hi guys!" He chirped.

"You two know this kid?" The girl with her long blonde hair in a ponytail raised an eyebrow at him, and Wally realized that she must have actually been walking around with his friends.

"Yeah, he's an old friend," Dick grinned. "Artemis Crock, meet Wally West, native of Central City out west. I met him once when the circus stopped there, and we've kept in touch ever since."

"And then they somehow dragged me into the acquaintance, too." Roy added in a dry tone. Artemis' other eyebrow joined the first, and she looked at Wally with a more appraising expression.

"Well, in that case, it's nice to meet you, Wally."

"You too! And uh, sorry 'bout walking into you like that. I was looking at the ceiling." He rubbed at the back of his head sheepishly as the other three all rolled their eyes.

"Wally? You okay? Oh, hello Dick, Roy."

"Hi Barry."

"Hey, Mr. Allen."

Wally quickly introduced his uncle to Artemis as well, before asking if he could switch to hanging out with his friends. Roy managed to send the man a quick warning look, something that said something minor was up. Barry agreed, but also said that he'd be hanging around within shouting distance. Wally caught the brief expressions of relief on his friends' faces, and also realized there was a problem brewing. He was quick to step away with the others in order to ask about it.

Eyes scanning the surrounding crowd, Barry reached into his pocket to activate the League communicator that would summon one of his teammates in civilian mode to his side. He kept close to the quartet of kids, checking them every so often in his vigil.

Soon enough, Bruce and Ollie homed in on his position, and the man filled them in on what he knew of the unknown issue.

"Is it this Crock girl they're worried about?" Bruce asked with a frown, glancing in his ward's direction.

"No, I don't think so. She had the same look on her face."

"Maybe one of us had better go check with them," Oliver suggested, equally anxious about his own boy. "It'd be more natural for Roy or Dick to confide in us rather than you, Barry. No offense."

"None taken." The other blonde gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder.

"Alright then, Barry, you keep watch back here. Ollie, go check with the kids, and I'll see about finding Ms. Bertinelli to see if she knows anything." They both nodded to Bruce's marching orders, and then split up.

-C-

"Argh, how many more hours do we have to keep this up?" Hawkling groaned as she and her father stepped down from their shared podium, hiding from the dispersing crowd.

Katar merely chuckled. "What's the matter, Kendra, don't you want to be a quantum physics professor full-time?"

"_Fek,_ no."

The older Thanagarian laughed outright at his daughter's disgusted expression, and slung an arm about her shoulders. "Too bad, you'd have a knack for it. And for keeping unruly students in line too, I might add. One swing of your mace is all it would take!"

"In that case, _I'd_ certainly never sign up for one of the kid's classes." Both Hol's turned to see Green Lantern approaching them, leading a rather nervous looking young man with a sketchbook clutched to his chest.

"Hello Lantern. Who's this?"

"Hawks, I'd like you both to meet Kyle Rayner, budding artist extraordinaire, whom I've commissioned to make some portraits of us all."

Kendra snorted. "You commissioned? Why do I get the feeling Green Arrow's more likely to foot the bill."

"Arrow?" Kyle asked, blinking. "Why him?"

"'Cause he's the only one of us besides Batman with cash to spare, and I doubt the Dark Knight would even consider springing for something like this."

"I dunno, kid, these are some pretty impressive sketches." Lantern warned her, snagging the sketchbook and handing it over. "Just think of what this kid can do with proper ink and colors."

And indeed, the drawings of the various Leaguers _were_ impressive. First was one of Lantern himself, hovering in the middle of his light-construct display, which the man had already signed. Then there were three of the Kryptonians, a portrait each followed by a joint picture of both of them mid-air. There was another of Martian Manhunter, which mostly focused on him from the waist up but also had a great deal more detail in the shading and highlights. The final three were laid out like the Supers, with a single of each Hawk and a dual portrait catching both of them facing off in another heated debate.

"Oh, these are good," Kendra breathed, flipping back to the solitary one of her. Kyle had managed to capture the elegant lengths of her feathered wings with only a few scribbles, positioning them to frame her helmet, braid hanging over one shoulder. "My boyfriend would love this one."

Hawkman instantly stiffened and turned to face her. "Boyfriend?" He asked in a dangerous tone.

"Yes, and I'm not saying anything about him, so you don't have to bother asking, Father. I'll tell you when I'm ready."

Lantern guffawed, while Kyle looked ready to bolt in case another, more violent argument broke out between the Thanagarians...

-C-

When Roy finished explaining the problem to Ollie, the man looked ready to either faint or explode. "We're leaving. Now."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me, Roy, the last thing I need to deal with today is a stalker after you or Dick or both." He grimaced, running a hand through his hair. "I know you can't point this guy out to me without risking tipping him off, but when we go out the back exit I want you kids to give the security guards a description of him, see if they can locate the guy-"

"Uh, just one problem with that," Artemis cut it. "He's gone."

The boys all whipped their heads around to check, and sure enough, the white haired mystery man had vanished. Ollie muttered a curse under his breath, and immediately began hustling the four of them towards an exit.

"What's the problem now? If he's gone, it's a good thing, isn't it?" Wally asked.

"Not if it means that he's starting the countdown to something bad happening."

"Oh."

They hadn't gotten more than twenty feet when a series of rapid explosions rang out from above, followed by all the suspended models and exhibits falling from the roof.


	52. Episode 9: Convention, Part 5

As the spacecraft and station models began falling, people all throughout the convention hall screamed in terror. Then the superheroes reacted.

Green Lantern got up a safety net construct over the entirety of the massive room, which he held in place as the Kryptonians, Thanagarians and lone Martian began grabbing the damaged models and moving them away from directly over the crowds. Meanwhile, civilians began fleeing for the exits, helped in part by the incognito heroes among them.

Barry speeded away and back in a split second, having changed into his Flash uniform in order to help with the evacuation. Bruce remained in his civilian guise, directing people to the side exits with Helena Bertinelli helping him. Ollie was caught trying to get four uncooperative youths out, all of whom wanted to break away either to help or else find their own parent figures.

"Good day, boys and girls!" Eyes turned skywards with the ringing out of a male voice, and screams gave way to confused murmurs when trio of people saw the group poised in the rafters. They wore blue, grey and pink full-body suits with suction cups spread across the shiny material, as well as utility harnesses bearing a multitude of devices and weapons.

"We are the Squids! And as long as none of you fine people attempt to interfere with this robbery, we won't have to open fire on undeserving individuals." Around the boundaries of the hall, others in identical outfits appeared, each grabbing a nearby hostage to press their guns to. At the same time, the superheroes were forced to pause, as the suddenness and multitude of the bad guys took them by surprise.

Still crouched behind the stage where he'd been talking with members of the League, Kyle gripped his messenger bag close and contemplated how he'd be able to help. Side by side behind another exhibit, both Bruce and Helena were thinking furiously on how to slip away from the other billionaire in order to begin silently taking out the hostage-holders. Ollie had one hand gripping Roy's hoodie, another on Dick's shoulder, and by the force of his desperate glare alone kept Wally pinned in place. Behind him, Artemis was ready to disappear the instant she had a moment where no one was paying attention to her.

And high above, descending out of the cloud cover towards the damaged roof of the convention center, was a very oddly shaped aircraft.

Satisfied that no one was openly resisting them, the Squids positioned on the rafters swiftly moved and began climbing down, heading towards an interactive display contributed by Kord Industries. Hovering at the far end of the hall, Supergirl twitched as though she were going to try ducking out of sight in order to charge them, only for her cousin to give a warning shake of his head. Lantern, on the other hand, was able to extend an extra tendril from his net construct, sending it down the most unobtrusive route possible to reach Kyle. The youth nearly jumped out of his skin when the green light appeared in front of him, forming into a screen with words imprinted upon it.

_If you can get to the Wayne Tech display, Batman stored some emergency materials underneath the stand. Input the code 20-1411-29 to get the case to open, and start throwing the things marked 'smoke pellets' as far as you can through the hall._

Gulping, Kyle tentatively tapped the construct as an attempt at conveying his acceptance of the mission, and then snuck off down the row of exhibits.

On the opposite side of the center, Helena noticed something odd. "Bruce. Is it my imagination or is there a man in a blue suit coming in through the ceiling?" The other billionaire blinked and looked upward, eyes widening as he saw the same thing as Helena: a man in a specialized suit was indeed lowering himself through a hole in the roof, the yellow goggles on his cowl directed toward the main body of the Squids attackers. The group were attempting to open the Kord prototype hologram emitter, probably to get the state of the art crystalline laser focuser inside.

"Something tells me he isn't a late-arriving member of the gang," Bruce murmured, scanning along the route that the newcomer was likely to take. The hall had continued to empty, with more people anxious to escape than to stay put for the sake of the hostages. Fortunately, the majority of the Squids seemed happy to ignore fleeing civilians, keeping their attention on the visible League members.

Which was why the sudden eruption of smoke clouds up and down the length of the exhibit rows took them by such surprise.

Bruce took the opportunity to nudge Helena in the direction of the nearest exit. "Go. Make sure the police know what's going on-"

"I'm not leaving without Artemis." The woman snarled back. Bruce frowned tightly, but nodded.

"And I'm not leaving without Dick." Recognizing something in one another, the pair exchanged nods, before moving stealthily towards the nearest confused Squid. There was a small boy held tightly in his grip, concerned family members crouched nearby.

As Bruce delivered a high kick to the back of the villain's head, Helena caught his right arm and yanked both it and the pistol away from the hostage's head.

"Jaime!" The mother cried out once her son was released. He ran back to the arms of his parents, but paused in the act in order to send an awed look back over his shoulder at the two billionaires. Helena smiled, Bruce nodded, and then they were swiftly moving off towards the next Squid and hostage pair.

Elsewhere, the unknown hero had engaged the main group of attackers, utilizing some basic combat skills with a collection of odd tools from his belt to take them down. As this was going on, Flash set about freeing more of the hostages, while the pair of Supers were stirring all the individual smoke clouds into a widespread screen across the hall floor.

Wally sent a pleading look to Ollie, who sighed and gestured helplessly towards Artemis - only to realize that the girl was no longer behind him. "Oh, fine, dang it, just go!" In an instant, the redhead had disappeared, while a few moments later a second speedster joined the first.

"I'll find Bruce." Before Ollie had a chance to protest, Dick had vanished into the smoke. Roy favored his foster father with a 'what did you expect?' look.

"C'mon, Ollie, this fight's pretty much over. Let's see if we can find a security office and remove any incriminating footage, okay?" Reluctantly agreeing with his partner, Oliver followed the teen as he headed for the boundaries of the room.

Artemis crept through the smoke, coming closer to where one of the Squids had abandoned his hostage in favor taking a defensive position between two exhibit stands. The fourteen year old had almost reached him when another, smaller figure in the smoke beat her to it by dropping down from above.

She watched with startled amazement as Dick Grayson didn't take more than fifteen seconds to disarm the guy, knock him out and tie him up. Then the kid disappeared back off into the pale grey smokescreen.

"Dang," Artemis murmured. "Get that kid a candy bar."


	53. Episode 9: Convention, Part 6

Ted Kord was having an... interesting day. First he'd finally finished construction on his ship, the Bug, and decided to take her out for a spin around the city. Then the alert had come in of an attack at the convention center, where the space exploration R&amp;D department of his company had a display with a crucial prototype. And following Ted's brief, victorious battle with the Squids, he found himself shaking Superman's hand.

It was that last event that he felt the most overwhelmed by.

"Appreciate the help, friend," the famous hero was saying to him. "Don't suppose you have a name?"

"B-bee Bluttle, I'm, I mean, Blue Beetle, that's me!" Ted flushed with embarrassment. "I-it's an honor, S-superman." A moment later, a small face was peering upside down into his eyes.

"Are you like Batman?" Supergirl questioned, floating over Ted's head. "And Green Arrow? No powers, but lots of tricks?"

"Um, yes?"

The kid nodded decisively, flipping over to land beside her cousin. "Cool. We need more like you guys."

And really, that compliment just raised his spirits up even higher.

All around, members of the League were working with first responders to clean up the mess left by the Squids' attack. Even crimefighter who hadn't been present before the battle were there: the Flashes, the Arrows, Batman and Robin. And off to one side were a pair of female vigilantes Ted had heard about, but never seen - Huntress and Tigress, who were currently talking to Gotham's Dark Knight.

A small tap on his leg directed Ted's attention downward.

One of the former hostages had snuck over to stand beside him. The boy couldn't have been more than five or six, and was staring at Ted with wide eyes.

"Do you need something?" He asked softly, crouching down to be on a more even level with the kid. The silent stare persisted, accompanied by a biting of the lower lip. Then the little boy held out a slightly tattered blue ball cap and a black marker.

Ted blinked, and grinned. A few minutes later, Jaime Reyes was dashing back to his parents and baby sister, happily clutching the hat that had received a stylized Beetle symbol upon it, along with an autograph made out personally to him.

"And that right there," Superman smiled. "Is one of the best rewards we get from this job."

-C-

"Even if you aren't interested in joining right now, it never hurt to stay in touch." Batman said as he handed Huntress a League communicator. "There are three frequencies in there to switch between - one connects straight to our base, the second sends a signal to all of us, and the third only contacts the units carried by our younger members."

Tigress grinned, flipping back a mane of black hair that Batman knew had to be a wig. "Sweet. Does that mean I get to pester the other kid partners at all hours of the day?"

"It means you can talk to them when I'm proving insufferable, or there's an emergency, and no more." Her mentor said dryly, tucking the communicator away in her utility belt. "Thank you, Batman."

He nodded. "You're welcome. And we appreciate the help."

"Not like _I_ did much," the teen muttered, before raising her voice a bit. "And you might want to warn your kid, that the next time he takes down a goon without his uniform on, he'd better check to make sure no one's watching."

"Ah. That sounds more like something I'll leave to Batgirl to fuss at him for." Then the Dark Knight actually _smirked_ at her. "If and when you decide to meet my other partner, I think you two will hit it off." Tigress stood a little straighter at that, eager in spite of herself. Batgirl had been her longest target of hero-worship, since even before stories about the Huntress started appearing online.

Her gaze caught on a trio of boys waiting near the center of the hall, and Tigress couldn't resist asking another question. "So. Did the bird boy really meet his Central City friend before donning a cape?"

"No," Batman frowned, his tone conveying exasperation. "They first met when Flash brought him to my home, asking for help." Both female heroes snickered at that.

"Did they tell you about the stalker that was here?" Huntress asked, growing more serious.

"Briefly."

"Word of warning, then - it was Deathstroke, and ten to one he knows who you are now." The woman elaborated as she saw Batman's eyes narrow. "He came here in a civilian guise, and at first we couldn't figure out why until the details came through of who you and the boys really were."

"Arrow and Speedy had a confrontation with him just last night." He outlined the basics of what Oliver had passed on to him just a couple hours before, causing both ladies to appear uncomfortable.

"Deathstroke and my father are old acquaintances," the teen said quietly. "I never met him, but overheard a phone call once, and Wilson complimented Dad on having a ready-made successor of his own flesh and blood. I realized later that it was a threat to get my father to keep away from a job Wilson was working, but he just laughed it off, said he rather would have had a son to train. And Deathstroke agreed."

"If he's in the market for a student, you'd best keep your boy close." Huntress stated grimly.

Batman stiffened. He offered his thanks once again, and immediately swept away to gather Robin and depart for home.

-C-

Even as the action wound down and the police arrived, Kyle remained hidden behind the Wayne Tech display, unmoving until Green Lantern sought him out.

"Not bad, kid!" The hero grinned, taking a seat beside him. "You handled that just fine for a first-timer."

Kyle only let out a strangled sound in response. Lantern's grin promptly flipped, and the man nudged him carefully.

"You didn't get hit by a stray bullet when I wasn't looking, did you?" Kyle shook his head. "Zapped by Bats' equipment? Stubbed your toe against a hard surface?" Silently, the youth held up his messenger bag, which had a rather nasty looking knife blade sticking out of it. "Oh. Whoops."

"Kid Flash smacked the guy away before he could pull it back out," Kyle mumbled, opening the bag to reveal that the knife had gone completely through his sketchbook as well. "I'm scared I'll make things worse if I try to remove it."

"Don't worry, I've got this one." More carefully than if he were disabling a pressure plate bomb, Lantern extracted the blade, and checked his new friend's drawings when the eighteen year old was too afraid to look. "Okay, the good news is that the most damage is to the blank pages at the back of your book. The better news is that the slit made in the sketches themselves is pretty small, and the best news is that I think only the League portraits are truly messed up beyond repair."

Kyle stared at him. "Why, exactly, is that the _best_ news?"

"Because I wanted more of them anyway, so you'll have the chance to re-draw these guys in future!" Lantern stood, offering a hand up to the teen as well. "C'mon, I'll give you a lift home. Then I'm going to give you a phone number for use in emergencies, and you'll give me yours so I can get in touch about opportunities to draw more of those portraits from live models. Okay?"

"O-okay. Thanks?"

"Don't mention it."


	54. Author's Interlude 9

Dun-da-duh! Another episode down! More heroes, partners and villains introduced! Another few long-term plot threads created for you guys to squeal and/or agonize over! (Just don't come after me with torches and pitchforks, yeah?)

I've started work on Episode 10: Little Clue, and the first chapter for it should be up in a couple days. First, though, I ought to give you guys an updated version of the coming season, along with the news that there will no definitely be a sequel after this: Consistencies, The Batman Season 7. More Partners, more villains, more funnies and feels and moments where you all will want to start chucking rocks at my head, I promise you that.

So, here we are:

Already complete - Speedy Shadow, Double Sided, Kryptonian Kid, Hyperactive, Scared Stiff, Hawkling Part 1: Hatchling Found, Hawkling Part 2: New Nest, Trio of Troublemakers, and now Convention.

Coming up - Little Clue, Brawl, Stray, Two Faced, Scattered, Date Night, From the Gutter, Childproof, Gotta Save the Grown-Downs Part 1: Trials of Babysitting, Gotta Save the Grown-Downs Part 2: Magic Touch, Mama Cat, Teenagers, Hidden in Plain Sight Part 1: Ambassador Duty, Hidden in Plain Sight Part 2: Hunt for a Prince, Hidden in Plain Sight Part 3: Royal Representatives, Incoming, and Chaos of the Season.

Season 7 - Blackest Bat, Babysitting Advice, Meet the Grandkids, Arkham Explosion, Demonics, Technological Assistance, Cold Standard, Unwilling, History Repeated, Night of Terrors, Villains United Part 1: Common Cause, Villains United Part 2: The Kid's League, Organization, Unexpected, Preference, Behind the Scenes, Patrol Route, Back from Mars, Birthday in Wayne Manor, Flight of Panic, Exorcism, Twist of Events, Cruel Fate, Kind Friends, Gathered, and Fast Forward.

Hope to see you all back here again,

-Triscribe


	55. Episode 10: Little Clue, Part 1

Part 1

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

Batgirl stared at the tiny opening of the museum's ventilation system. "I know Cluemaster's henchmen are small, but there is _no way_ any of them could fit in _there."_

Robin sighed. "I know. Which means, either he's hired someone new, or gotten a cat-sized robot, or tamed a small animal to do his evil bidding."

The older crimefighter shot him a small scowl. "This isn't funny, Rob."

"I know. Can you imagine an army of rodents serving that nutcase? Terrifying." He grinned up at his partner, who resigned herself to ignoring the preteen.

"Come on, let's see if there's any sign of where the thief went." They'd been called out by a silent alarm tripped at the downtown Museum of Modern Art, but arrived too late to catch the culprit who stole several original concept art pieces of famous cartoon movies. While Batman investigated inside the building and spoke to Commissioner Gordon, Batgirl and Robin were sent up to roof to find the point of entry. And find it they had - the vent grate hadn't been replaced, still lying below the vent opening along with four screws. And caught just in the opening was a tiny square of orange cloth with the words 'Little Clue' stitched into it.

Peering over the northern edge of the museum, Batgirl spotted another flash of orange down below. Upon taking a closer look, it was an identical cloth square to the first, this time tucked beneath the heavy metal plate of a sewer grate.

"Think we should go check it out, or wait for Batman?" Robin asked, coming up behind her.

"I'm gonna go ahead on down," his partner decided. "You take the squares to him, and come join me once the Commissioner leaves."

"Got it."

There were, sadly, no more bits of orange cloth conveniently laying about in the sewers, and the trio of crimefighters gave up their search after a couple hours. That didn't mean they were throwing in the towel, though - Batman ran the two squares through every test he could think of at the Cave, nearly until dawn. That Sunday, all of them slept in, and by nightfall were ready to pick up the case once again.

Starting with a house call to Arthur Brown, aka the Cluemaster...

-C-

"'Fraid I can't help you, Batman," Arthur Brown said, slumped on his worn old sofa. "I got out on parole for good behavior, and I certainly haven't done anything to jeopardize that. I can't."

The man had lost a lot of weight in prison, coming down to a still large but vastly healthier size. Brown had also gotten himself out of his mother's basement, leasing a small apartment and working odd jobs around the city to pay his bills.

"Can't?" Batman asked, still inspecting the main room.

"Can't. I have Stephanie to think about now." Brown sighed. "Her mom died just after I got out, and _my_ mom isn't capable of raising a four year old. 'Specially one as hyper as my Steph."

Reluctantly accepting for the time being that his main suspect seemed to be out of the criminal business, Batman left as silently as he'd arrived. He still had Batgirl keep an eye on the man, and his young daughter, for the next few days.

"It's the same old pattern, boss," she reported in the third evening. "Brown drops his kid off at pre-school, takes the bus to whatever painting or construction job he's got for the day, picks her up again in the afternoon, they have dinner at his mother's house, and then go home. If he his behind that heist, I dunno how he managed it."

That very night, they got another call, this time to a storage facility where a pair of rare, first edition children's books no longer in print were stolen. Again, the ventilation system was used for the thief to get in and out, just as once again, a 'Little Clue' square was found on the roof.

"Maybe it's a copycat?" Robin asked dubiously.

"If it was really someone just duplicating Brown's efforts, they'd be doing kidnappings and revenge gigs, not thefts." Batman pointed out. "This is either Brown himself earning extra income, or a burglar interested in making us think it was him."

"So, what's our next move, boss-Bat?"

"I want you two to keep patrolling tonight, while I go have a word with our inside man..."

-C-

Unfortunately, Harvey Dent didn't have much in the way of information for him, either.

"Sorry, Bats, but I haven't heard anything about a new crook on the scene. And whoever snatched those goods of yours must have had a direct buyer, too - nothing about old cartoon drawings or kid's books on the black market auction listings."

"Right... Keep your ears open, Dent."

"Sure thing, Bats."

-C-

"New development this morning, boss," Barbara announced as she strolled into the Bat Cave. "Stephanie Brown was practically asleep on her feet, and Arthur had to pretty much drag her to preschool."

Bruce frowned. "So she might have been up late last night, during our mysterious heist."

"That's what I figured. Nothing else out of the ordinary, though. And I was watching their apartment up until we got the call; neither one left through the doors or windows."

"But, we already know that the thief from the museum escaped into the sewers..."

"So there might be a basement exit I didn't have covered." The teen sighed, finished her mentor's thought. "Dang it."

Bruce didn't bother to berate or reassure her, instead moving to the computer and pulling up schematics for the Brown's apartment building. "Hm. Nothing on the blueprints, but that doesn't mean that there's nothing there."

"Guess I know where we'll be staked out for the next week..."


End file.
